Life jackets.

[Keith Tindell]

Its akin to sitting on an aircraft in one of those 3-4 seat configuration, on an aircraft you don't want to disturb the next guy to go to toilet, but in the helicopter you are aware that it is going to go **** over head, and there is no polite way for the next guy to go out, so in my case , give him a shove, and lets get out. slight panic is felt by everyone, no matter how many times you do it. In a real situation, i dread to think. Its a real treat when its all over. In the end, the Fire service that i had transferred to decided that they could not afford to keep the training up for fire fighting at sea, so we only dealt with the Solent, and Hampshire who had a fire boat in my time , took over Fire fighting at sea proper, kt

[j.sabourn]

When you did the course marian all you wore was a boiler suit.when flying properly you did not wear a Ships lifejacket you wore a modified survival flying suit , in the tropics the only specification where I used to use helicopters a lot if no suits available stipulation was long trousers and rolled down sleeves and one of these airline inflatable collars round the neck .If you wore a hat it had to have a chin strap for when you reached your object in one piece , so it didn’t blow of your head and get tangled in the rotors. You just did what you were told as was the custom of the airline. When pushing a widow out you usually pulled the rubber seal out first then just pushed on the perspex/glass and it should just fall outboard . If it didn’t though your in trouble especially if like me you can’t hold your breath like James Bond.I think the longest I could hold my breath was 2 minutes not like some where 3 minutes was no problem Today would be lucky to hold for 1 minute. Nearly all the windows on a chopper are escape ones unlike an ordinary passenger jet , and are much larger . JS
PS as said I always mistimed on taken that deep breath as the water approached my nose thus cutting back on that miserly 2 minutes .. Cheers JS

[Tony Taylor]

In 1972 I paid off a VLCC via helicopter at Las Palmas. They said to me you are getting winched off as the old man wouldn't let him land.
He landed, tyres well under inflated (probably for grip, but it doesn't do much for your confidence at the time).
It was an old Sikorsky ex military chopper with a sliding door; my relief jumps out and I climb in, to see a row of canvas seats along the bulkhead with a net of sorts dangling behind the seats, no belts, no lifejackets. Its funny how you take in all kinds of details at same time, I could see the pilots feet on the pedals, he had 4"cuban soles and heels on; lifted straight off and flew backwards and upwards while the crew man called instructions through his head set, while holding the door open and hanging on to a grab handle with the other. When he was clear of the ship and had enough height, the pilot banked the chopper to starboard, the sliding door fell off the runner and the crewman nearly fell out, hanging onto the door and grab handle with his body just about being pulled in two. He was screaming in his mike so the pilot tipped it over the other way and the crewman fell back inside, and quivered on the deck for the rest of the way in.
We landed in an ash covered carpark, where there was a kid about 14 with a 40 gallon fuel drum on a trolley and he started fuelling with a wanky wanky pump.
The pilot then emerges from the chopper to greeted by a very agitated crewman; the pilot was about 4' 6", so that explains the Cuban heels. Pilot was not the least concerned, and lit up a smoke while standing next to the fuel kid.
I enjoyed a very good drink that night.

[j.sabourn]

One of the last flights I did was from a hole in the bush in the Northern Territory about 200 miles into Indonesian waters . My biggest thoughts on longer than usual flights was hoping the pilot had got his sums right on his weights and measures and we had enough fuel to get there , then I used to start to worry if they had fuel on the platform or rig if I was doing the return trip the same day in the same whirlybird . Tony if you had of had to be winched up hope someone told you about the short sharp electric shock you may have received by the static eletricity built up by the rotating rotors . Although that was usually felt by persons landing on the deck was their complaint. Going the other way never heard any complaints as they were out of earshot. Cheers JS
A lot of people using helicopters a lot used to carry their own goggles so could have an advantage underwater, I used to close mine for some reason and just go on feel , if felt scales just hoped it wasn’t a Nobby .JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Life jackets are in every cabin on the cruise ships along with lockers full of them on the boat deck.

They have the whistle and light and are a yellow color.

But looking closely it appears they are the old style cork cubes, two front, two back.
Very clumsy and a bit bulky when on.

Just hope we never have to use them.

Similar in design to number 2

[happy daze john in oz]

Could be true Lewis as they are not too heavy.
But very bulky to move with when on and just hope you do not have top use Jacobs to get off.

[John Arton]

On the ships I sailed on with free fall lifeboats, for use in the lifeboat we had normal polystyrene block filled life jackets, along with immersion suits but for use in the rescue boat we had working life jackets akin to those that the RNLI use.
Rgds
J.A.

[happy daze john in oz]

The inflateable life boats/rafts have to be inspected every six months and are regularly changed to be checked out.
Is there, or has there ever been a system of checking life jackets.

[Ivan Cloherty]

The inflateable life boats/rafts have to be inspected every six months and are regularly changed to be checked out.
Is there, or has there ever been a system of checking life jackets.

Every two years during the annual LSA (Life Saving Appliances) surveys, if any changes were made in official requirements under IMO then shipowners were given 3 to 5 years to comply, always best to make the changes when the regulations were introduced (or before if possible) as it was much cheaper, as soon as the grace period expired the prices of products shoots up. The 3 - 5 year grace period was because of production reasons as well as individual ship trading patterns. !What today's regulations are, I have no idea

[j.sabourn]

Lifejackets used to be checked every LSA survey. By the surveyor who tried by hand to rip them apart, that"s what it looked like, he was testing that the canvas hadn"t rotted. Any signs of weakness and they were condemned. All your LSA ( Life saving Apparatus was checked flares , life boats , Line throwing apparatus, Even your Black Balls, and your diamond. Lifebuoys etc etc.
Don"t know what the reply would have been on the Castle ships when he asked to see the Black Balls, ? JS