Flares pistol

[AirDX]

If you ditch a Cessna in the Ocean at 4am, you are not likely to have enough left of you to be able to fire a flare.  I doubt there is too much
CD work over the ocean at 4am, either.

You don't know much about ditching light aircraft, do you?  Night ditchings happen, and are survivable.

As far as a CAP mission at night overwater, let's just say what if?

What if there was a major tsumami-generating tsunami in Japan at 7:30 PM our local time...

And at 9:30 PM there is a state-wide tsunami warning...

And by 10:30 PM the CAP airplanes are flying tsunami warning routes over a dark, dark Pacific ocean....

And by 5 AM they are launching again over the same dark ocean for sunrise damage assessment missions...

Just saying, it MIGHT happen. 

[Eclipse]

A lot of things might happen.

Why would anyone be flying over the ocean to assess tsunami damage?  If you're far enough away from the
shore to need a flare, you're not going to be looking at anything but water.

[AirDX]

Here's an interesting analysis of NTSB reports of light aircraft ditchings.  BLUF: "the overall general aviation ditching survival rate is 90 percent, and if you ignore blue water ferry operations, fatalities are actually quite rare."

http://www.equipped.com/ditchingmyths.htm

[AirDX]

A lot of things might happen.

OK, I'll spell it out, that's what we did after the Great Tohoku Earthquake last March.  Do you want a cite or do you read the paper?

[AirDX]

A lot of things might happen.

Why would anyone be flying over the ocean to assess tsunami damage?  If you're far enough away from the
shore to need a flare, you're not going to be looking at anything but water.

I'm in Hawaii.  Look at a map.  Getting from one island to another requires.... crossing lots of water.   We do damage assessment and tsunami warning for the entire state, not just the island the airplane's based on. 

[Eclipse]

A lot of things might happen.

Why would anyone be flying over the ocean to assess tsunami damage?  If you're far enough away from the
shore to need a flare, you're not going to be looking at anything but water.

I'm in Hawaii.  Look at a map.  Getting from one island to another requires.... crossing lots of water.   We do damage assessment and tsunami warning for the entire state, not just the island the airplane's based on.

Fair enough, then just as in Alaska, your wing has special needs, and if flares are deemed "important", they should be a part of the aircrew
loadouts and members trained in their use.  I would imagine that personal flotation devices and perhaps even an inflatable raft
are also considered important.

That doesn't mean they should be standard issue or are anything but a hazard / firework in the "flyover states".

[AirDX]

Fair enough, then just as in Alaska, your wing has special needs, and if flares are deemed "important", they should be a part of the aircrew
loadouts and members trained in their use.  I would imagine that personal flotation devices and perhaps even an inflatable raft
are also considered important.

That doesn't mean they should be standard issue or are anything but a hazard / firework in the "flyover states".

Flares are deemed important.  And you're right, I didn't carry them when I flew in Minnesota Wing, or during any of my personal flying around Michigan/Wisconsin/Illinois/Iowa.  Don't see a need - compact fire-starting equipment serves the dual purpose of being available to start a fire for heat if required, or for signaling purposes.

For the record, the survival gear we carry in Hawaii Wing aircraft is:

"A certified current life raft with sufficient capacity to hold the maximum number of crew and passengers.

A certified current life flotation vest for each crew member and passenger.  Each life vest shall be be equipped with the following items:
ACR Personal Locator Beacon
4 pencil flares
1 rescue streamer
1 rescue mirror
1 whistle
1 sea dye marker"

Absence of any of these items is a no-go issue.  There are few if any flight profiles we typically fly that don't involve some risk of ditching.

In my personal flying I carry similar gear attached to my body.

[Eclipse]

"A certified current life raft with sufficient capacity to hold the maximum number of crew and passengers.

Heh - we had those in planes flying over Lake Michigan for a while, until someone pointed out that the odds of being able to get
the thing out of the cargo door after ditching were near zero, and the extra weight was all but nixing the third / fourth aircrew
member, depending on which plane it was at the time.

They just decided to risk it, ditto with PFD's.

What's the actual procedure for getting the raft out of the plane?

[AirDX]

What's the actual procedure for getting the raft out of the plane?

Most of us will brief the scanner, if there is one, is responsible to reach over the back seat and get it up next to him, preparatory to passing it to the observer or the pilot after the ditching, who'll pull it out behind them, or the scanner could push it out ahead as he exits.

If no scanner, I strap it into the rear seat.  It'd be a trick to get it out, but cool heads will prevail.

Obviously it's not the only survival gear, and all  I count on is what's strapped to my body.  No plan survives contact with the enemy.

[lordmonar]

A lot of things might happen.

Why would anyone be flying over the ocean to assess tsunami damage?  If you're far enough away from the
shore to need a flare, you're not going to be looking at anything but water.

You did not really read that post.

Nor did you catch the [SARCASM][/SARCASM].

These are missions that HIWG actualy flies.  They fly the TSUNAMI warnings and they fly SUNRISE DA missions...so a before sunrise take off.

[RRLE]

The ditching protocol for the USCG Aux, which includes a mandatory life raft on board:

1. Front right seat opens door and jams it open.
2. Rear seat passenger passes raft to front right seat. If no rear passenger, front right seat gets raft from back seat, where it was placed before flight.
3. Front right seat places raft on floor between legs. Do not hold it in front of you as it may interfere with the pilot pulling the yoke back.
4. Plane ditches. Front right passenger goes out the door with the raft in front of him. Inflate vest, swim to tail and once free of debris, inflates raft, gets in.
5. Pilot exits. Inflate vest, swim to raft. Enter.
6. Rear right passenger exits. Inflate vest, swim to raft. Enter.
7. Rear left passenger exits. Inflate vest, swim to raft. Enter.

That is just theory. In contrast to what some stats quoted earlier, the USCG Aux has had several ditching in the history of its air program. There have been no survivors.

[Buzz]

A lot of things might happen.

Why would anyone be flying over the ocean to assess tsunami damage?  If you're far enough away from the
shore to need a flare, you're not going to be looking at anything but water.

Tsunamis tend to drag stuff out to sea.  Lots of stuff.  MASSIVE AMOUNTS of lots of stuff.   CITIES' worth of massive amounts of lots of stuff.

Some of that stuff can be people hanging onto debris.

A cigarette lighter on a dark sea can be visible for miles from the air, while the victim is over the horizon (or blocked by other debris) to spotters on a boat only a few hundred yards away.