Watch the news - B777 missing

**awa355** · 24th April 2014, 05:12

Originally Posted by scrivy

As a post above says too, they are compulsory for any international flights overwater.

The lifeboats must fold up well, 290 into 4 goes about 72 in each, plus provisions. Would have to be a decent sized lifeboat. Mind you, the airline probably figure on losing a good number of passengers in the landing.

**FJRider** · 24th April 2014, 05:25

Originally Posted by awa355

The lifeboats must fold up well, 290 into 4 goes about 72 in each, plus provisions. Would have to be a decent sized lifeboat. Mind you, the airline probably figure on losing a good number of passengers in the landing.

I think they double as emergency slides in the event of wheels down emergency landings on tarmac ...

**5150** · 24th April 2014, 07:37

Originally Posted by FJRider

I think they double as emergency slides in the event of wheels down emergency landings on tarmac ...

And that is exactly what I was thinking. With the weight and size of these things, when you consider that every gram and inch of space counts for performance loss.

**scrivy** · 24th April 2014, 08:30

Originally Posted by 5150

And that is exactly what I was thinking. With the weight and size of these things, when you consider that every gram and inch of space counts for performance loss.

There is alot of rules relating to liferafts on aircraft....
If the planes largest liferaft is to be rendered useless, then the remaining liferafts must be able to accommodate the passengers that the largest one would have carried too.....

It's called redundancy... its fortunately what aircraft have to do....

**Waihou Thumper** · 24th April 2014, 08:42

Originally Posted by FJRider

I think they double as emergency slides in the event of wheels down emergency landings on tarmac ...

There are four dual lane slide rafts on a B777 from what I recall. They take approx 6-8 seconds to inflate.
In the event of a landing they are slides.
In the event of a ditching they are slide/rafts....
The thing is though, the rear doors may be under water, therefore the slides may not inflate. The crew will disarm doors and re-direct forward to other usable doors...

Of course this would only happen if everyone survived the ditching...

Door 1 65/81 (overload capacity)
Door 2 57/71
Door 3 51/63
Door 4 60/75

They are also equipped....

ELT i.e. Emergency Locater Transmitter.
Canopy
Survival Kit: First Aid Kit, flares, signal mirrors, sea dye marker, survival manual, flashlight, water, bailing bucket, sponge.
Manual Inflation Hand Pump. The valves are self-closing upon removal.

In a perfect world, the crew are trained, but like all things, the training happens in a artificial environment...
Even liferaft training is conducted in a heated pool....
The real world, sea sickness, dehydration and Hypothermia will be the killer...

I did my sea survival training in the RNZN in temperature of 9 Celsius, didn't last long at that temp, I can tell ya...

**scrivy** · 24th April 2014, 10:28

Originally Posted by Waihou Thumper

In a perfect world, the crew are trained, but like all things, the training happens in a artificial environment...
Even liferaft training is conducted in a heated pool....
The real world, sea sickness, dehydration and Hypothermia will be the killer...

...and the biggest threat to passenger survival is the fact that the 'officials' find a way to disappear..... as in the Korean boat tragedy...

**R650R** · 24th April 2014, 16:58

Never mind survivability, the fact is if that thing hit the water under anything less than ideal conditions it would break up. Surely at least one of the rafts and EPIRB components would have broken away and/or been activated by the water...

**FJRider** · 24th April 2014, 17:40

Originally Posted by Waihou Thumper

I did my sea survival training in the RNZN in temperature of 9 Celsius, didn't last long at that temp, I can tell ya...[/I]

I was Army ... did water parachute jumps off Hobsonville ... mid winter as is the army way ...

Plus ditching practice in the (unheated) Hobsonville swimming pool ... (for the Air Dispatch course ... and also mid winter)

**YellowDog** · 24th April 2014, 19:47

Originally Posted by FJRider

I was Army ... did water parachute jumps off Hobsonville ... mid winter as is the army way ...

Plus ditching practice in the (unheated) Hobsonville swimming pool ... (for the Air Dispatch course ... and also mid winter)

Sounds like that would have caused a severe case of 'Internal Willy'

**FJRider** · 24th April 2014, 19:55

Originally Posted by YellowDog

Sounds like that would have caused a severe case of 'Internal Willy'

I survived ..

**Waihou Thumper** · 24th April 2014, 20:44

Originally Posted by FJRider

I was Army ... did water parachute jumps off Hobsonville ... mid winter as is the army way ...

Plus ditching practice in the (unheated) Hobsonville swimming pool ... (for the Air Dispatch course ... and also mid winter)

More of a matter of trying to find him...
One of our guys failed....Had a fear of heights! Would't jump off the bow of the Otago!

**FJRider** · 24th April 2014, 20:55

Originally Posted by Waihou Thumper

More of a matter of trying to find him...
One of our guys failed....Had a fear of heights! Would't jump off the bow of the Otago!

In the event of it actually sinking ... it would be sensible to wait until the bow WAS at sea level ...

I jumped off the bow of the (old) Canterbury once, But it was off Singapore at the time ... warm as.