Saftey: Life Jackets

[Lance Murray]

take a look at this website. This guy is the guru of survival.

http://www.equipped.org/

[Lance Murray]

http://www.equipped.org/ditchtoc.htm

[Jean]

Thank you for this information Lance.
I had found that website meanwhile and it looks very well documented.
Makes me wonder if I still want to overfly water !

[Lance Murray]

So much for thinking our Diamonds might float.

Did you get to take the DA40 out of the water? Any other damages except for the cowlings? In the picture, was it still sinking or with the prop on the ground?

Yes the aircraft was recovered after spending approx 8 hrs in the sea. The sea is quite shallow here and in the picture the prop and open canopy are resting on the sea floor.

[Gary]

Did you get to take the DA40 out of the water? Any other damages except for the cowlings? In the picture, was it still sinking or with the prop on the ground?

Yes the aircraft was recovered after spending approx 8 hrs in the sea. The sea is quite shallow here and in the picture the prop and open canopy are resting on the sea floor.

We should designate this DA40 as the official corrosion testbed. Is this airplane still in use? If so, please take some photos of the innards during the next inspection so we can see what happens.

[Karl]

Haha, it is not currently in service.

Daimond say it is recoverable but I would be suprised if it can be done financially.
The DCA are very strict and require all (ALL) items involved in a crashed aircraft to be proved beyond all doubt that they have not exceeded their design limits before being re-used.

As an engineer I do not really see how this can be done beyond all doubt. Essentially the DCA could just keep providing endless hoops to jump through to prove airworthiness.

Its not my call, but if it was I would advise junking it and buying a new one.

[Kai]

Its not my call, but if it was I would advise junking it and buying a new one.

I guess it's not my call either, but if it was I would advise a cheap and quick fix and using it for flights over water for undisciplined high-risk flight-school students only.

If your flight-school for whatever strange reasons thinks it is not feasible, then at least I would donate it with a few pictures of the plane in water and the brave airmen in lifejackets on the wings to the future Thielert Air-Diesel museum (title: "The beginnings of Diesel engines in aviation were hard and troublesome for the involved brave pioneers.")

Seriously, Karl: we are having some fun here because it's a way of dealing with our own fear of landing in water. We do know that this must have been a terrible event for the pilots and the school.

[Karl]

I would advise a cheap and quick fix and using it for flights over water for undisciplined high-risk flight-school students only.

I think we would need more than one Kai, hahaha.