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  #11  
Old 12-14-2010, 10:57 AM
smiller smiller is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon
Posts: 102
Default Take a water egress course

If you're seriously concerned about this (i.e. you often fly over large bodies of water) I'd highly recommend a water egress course. I think the FAA still offers one in Oklahoma City for free or cheap, and there are private companies who offer them as well. The course instructor(s) may even have an answer to your question -- at least generically.

I took a mini egress course at the Puyallup (WA) conference a couple years ago, and it was quite an enlightening experience. After some classroom work, we were each flipped over upside-down in a mock-up cockpit floating on 4 feet of water (in our street clothes for added realism!). The mock-up cockpit had Cessna-style seatbelts/shoulder-strap (and door/door-handle), and I was surprised to learn how easy it is to get tangled up in those things once under water and upside-down, and it's even worse if there's current in the water (or your plane is sinking). In air you can just unbuckle and shake yourself loose, but in water they'll twist and wrap around you and tangle enough that you may have a hard time freeing yourself. It was one of those things that I didn't believe until I experienced it for myself. Fortunately there were instructors in diving suits ready to help me out, but I made it on my own after some struggling. In that class we learned that one type of seatbelt in particular -- where your shoulder harness ends has slots in them and they slide onto the main buckles -- will almost certainly kill you under water. A 5-point quick-release is best for water egress if I remember correctly.

Anyway, take the class. You'll learn some good stuff. And if they answer your RV-specific question(s), post here!
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  #12  
Old 12-14-2010, 12:47 PM
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longranger longranger is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: 45G, Brighton, MI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sig600 View Post
...My plan is to just put the tops back on my empty beer bottles. If I have to ditch, there will be more than enough bouyancy to hold my plane up...
This is my nomination for humorous post of the year!
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  #13  
Old 12-14-2010, 02:19 PM
gciampa gciampa is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Fuquay Varina, NC
Posts: 75
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sig600 View Post
I like Scotts thinking.
My plan is to just put the tops back on my empty beer bottles. If I have to ditch, there will be more than enough bouyancy to hold my plane up.
A mime is a terrible think to waist....
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  #14  
Old 12-14-2010, 02:21 PM
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N941WR N941WR is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: SC
Posts: 12,887
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sig600 View Post
...Read those threads, which is why I figure a big framing or claw hammer is the only sure fire means of a quick breakout.
I'm thinking a Taurus Judge might do the trick. The only question, what should I load it with. That's a pretty big hammer.
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Last edited by N941WR : 12-14-2010 at 02:25 PM.
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  #15  
Old 12-14-2010, 02:29 PM
elippse elippse is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Arroyo Grande, CA
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How about the old "Fill it with ping-pong balls" trick!
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