The Human Factors Relating to Escape and Survival from Helicopters Ditching in Water (AGARDograph No. 305 E)

Abstract

When a helicopter ditches into water, it usually inverts and rapidly sinks. With water rushing in through cockpit windows, aircrew and passengers have to overcome inherent buoyancy to make their escape from a flooded compartment through cargo doors, access doors, windows or the windshield. They may even be thrown out through a split in the cabin if the impact is severe. Even if the crew and passengers are uninjured, escape is difficult with the loss of vision, the disorientation, the requirement to not breath underwater in spite of the gasp reflex and the extreme terror created by the catastrophe (6, 8, 12, 13, 17, 24, 25, 41, 60, 63, 65, 66). Occupants whose passage is blocked by entanglement with debris, who cannot release their lap straps, or who are injured, commonly perish (24).