I didn't post this for us as a community to "monday morning
quarterback" this fortunate pilot's decisions. It is not fair for us
to sit in front of a computer in the comfort of your home and think
about what you might have done differently than the guy who lived it in
real time. It does help to read what happened and consider if your own
flying routine would have given you the opportunities to escape this
situation. I don't have a BRS in my plane, but it is very possible that
I could have an off airport landing in or around water. I usually think
of life vests only on a planned extended over-water flight. (Like going
to Oshkosh in a couple of weeks from Farmindale, New York). I also
haven't considered how easy or difficult it would be to escape from a
Cessna 182 that was submerging in the next 4 minutes. I think that I
will plan to have life vests in easy reach on every flight from here
on. In basic PPL training we are taught to open the latches on doors
during a forced landing. Maybe it would be a good idea to open windows
too?