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If you fly over water, a working life raft and life vests are onboard necessities. If the water is seriously cold, survival suits are also important; including having everyone wear these suits during flights to survive the shock of entering frigid water before the raft has inflated.


DBC Marine Safety Systems specializes in such products, plus engine fire bottles, chemical fire extinguishers, and comprehensive survival kits for both over-land and over-water flights. DBC’s over-land survival kits, which are stocked in line with the number of persons on the aircraft, “include a means of providing shelter, starting a fire, water purification; a means of signalling, and a Survival Manual,” said Wes Ambeau, DBC’s Survival Kits Administrator; plus food rations and “appropriate Type A or B First Aid Kits.”


Over-water kits with life rafts come “equipped with an attached survival kit sufficient for the survival on water of each person on board the aircraft,” said Bobby Kirkley, DBC’s Aviation Supervisor. Each kit includes “a means of providing shelter, a two-day supply of water and/or a means of desalting salt water; a raft repair kit, bailing bucket, signalling devices, a fishing kit, and a survival manual.”


BEST PRACTICES FOR SURVIVAL-ORIENTED FLYING


Okay, so you have taken the survival training, and equipped your helicopter with survival necessities. Now all that remains is to implement the right “Best Practices” to ensure that you and your pilots always fly with post-crash survival in mind.


Here are the kind of best practices you will want to put in place:


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Before flying, make sure that you have filed a flight plan; even if it is as simple as making sure someone knows your planned flight path and ETA.


Stick to your flight plan. This is the first area rescuers will check if you crash.


Before takeoff, inspect your survival equipment to ensure that it is operational. If it isn’t, don’t fly! This includes verifying that your satphone and PLB are working.


Make sure everyone is properly dressed to deal with the weather in the event of a crash. Short-sleeves and sneakers are not appropriate for flying over snow- bound Minnesota in February.


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Don’t fly beyond your piloting capabilities. If you are VFR-rated and IFR conditions are likely to occur, stay on the ground!


If you crash and survive, don’t panic. Instead, follow the STOP protocol suggested by David Arama: Sit, Think, Observe, and Plan. “Too many people lose their training and make fatal mistakes due to fear,” he said. “Calm down, assess your situation and supplies, and then act; and if at all possible, stay with your aircraft because rescuers will look there first.”


Stay with the Aircraft. “Don’t wander away,” said Ron Abbott. “Too many people wander away from a crash site. Many times the crash site is found but the people wandered away and died because they went the wrong way looking for help.”


Post-crash survival may be something that a helicopter pilot never has to deal with, but preparing for it nevertheless, is as much as part of their duties as learning to takeoff and land safely. The only time you’ll appreciate the value of taking these preventative steps is when things go sideways in the air, and you’re ready to deal with the consequences.


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