"Out of fuel, out of hope: 'Help, I'm in the water'"

Peter R. wrote:
Mortimer wrote:

His biggest risk was hypothermia. If he'd only had a light....

A light? As long as we are wishing here, if only he wore a wetsuit and
life preserver equipped with a McMurdo FastFind Plus PLB and a flashing
beacon.


My thought was that a light would stand out like a sore thumb five miles from
shore in the dark. Him surviving was a function of time; he could swim. They'd
didn't find him before he ran out of energy and ability to stay afloat.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

On 28 Apr 2005 13:06:14 -0700, "Peter R."
wrote:

Mortimer wrote:

His biggest risk was hypothermia. If he'd only had a light....

A light? As long as we are wishing here, if only he wore a wetsuit and
life preserver equipped with a McMurdo FastFind Plus PLB and a flashing
beacon.


And maybe an inflatable raft on board !

Bill

The water temperature in Lake Michigan is still in the 40s. Lights,
flotation gear, all useless except to help them find your frozen body
unless your flotation device is a raft with a cover.

When I fly east IFR out of Gary airport, ATC usually sends me out 040,
which puts me about 10 miles off shore while still climbing. I always
hope that if a problem develops I'll have time to head for shore.

On 28 Apr 2005 13:28:31 -0700, "Paul kgyy"
wrote:

The water temperature in Lake Michigan is still in the 40s. Lights,
flotation gear, all useless except to help them find your frozen body
unless your flotation device is a raft with a cover.

When I fly east IFR out of Gary airport, ATC usually sends me out 040,
which puts me about 10 miles off shore while still climbing. I always
hope that if a problem develops I'll have time to head for shore.

Yikes, that is not a good vector. They won't give you vectors towards
Knox? I would think you would be below most of the ORD and MDW
arrival traffic.

"Paul kgyy" wrote in message
oups.com...
The water temperature in Lake Michigan is still in the 40s. Lights,
flotation gear, all useless except to help them find your frozen body
unless your flotation device is a raft with a cover.

Plus we have had high winds in the area since last weekend. The lake is a
turmoil as a result.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote

If he'd only had a light.... I always carry
a waterproof light with me in my car and when I fly. Always.

Even one better, one of those strobes, like joggers use.
--
Jim in NC

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in message
.com...
Matt Barrow wrote:
Here's just a few:
1) Poor fuel planning and continuing on with low fuel from Michigan
side.
2) Water crossing
3) No floatation devices



If he had pants on, he had floatation gear. Get someone to show you how
to knot
the legs, then inflate the pants by swinging it over your head from above
and
behind you to in front of you in one swift movement. The trapped air will
then
hold you up for quite a while like water wings.... and they can always be
reinflated ad nauseum.

His biggest risk was hypothermia. If he'd only had a light.... I always
carry
a waterproof light with me in my car and when I fly. Always.

At this time of the year neither would have done much good. He probably had
15 minutes at best.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in message
.com...
Matt Barrow wrote:
Here's just a few:
1) Poor fuel planning and continuing on with low fuel from Michigan
side.
2) Water crossing
3) No floatation devices



If he had pants on, he had floatation gear. Get someone to show you how
to knot
the legs, then inflate the pants by swinging it over your head from above
and
behind you to in front of you in one swift movement. The trapped air will
then
hold you up for quite a while like water wings.... and they can always be
reinflated ad nauseum.

His biggest risk was hypothermia. If he'd only had a light.... I always
carry
a waterproof light with me in my car and when I fly. Always.

He was an expert swimmer and it took the search boat how long to reach the
area? In 32 degree water he would have lasted only 30 minutes at best; they
would have found his corpse. As he was very lean, he might have had even
less time.

Has anyone ever seen a small inflatable raft (2-4 person) that would be
small enough to carry onboard an aircraft? I figure it would keep you out of
the water.

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 08:01:08 -0700, "Matt Barrow"
wrote in
::

In 32 degree water he would have lasted only 30 minutes at best

If the water had been 32 degrees F (instead of 40), he could have
walked to shore. :-)

In article , Matt Barrow wrote:
Has anyone ever seen a small inflatable raft (2-4 person) that would be
small enough to carry onboard an aircraft? I figure it would keep you out of
the water.

Yes, we carry them all the time. A friend of mine has a six-person
covered raft. In its container, it's smaller than the bag I carry my
charts and other bits and pieces in (although it's considerably denser!)
I would imagine Sporty's sell them over there - here they are pretty
common as you might expect. The one thing they aren't is cheap.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"