Sunday, September 27th, 2009

how can you have empty life rafts?

isn’t there someone to activate them = someone clearly survived? How does that happen such as the recent helicopter crash, where the life rafts are deployed but no one is in them. This happens on fishing vessels a lot too. I understand some may be automated, but still, any input would be appreciated.

Sadly too often the safety equipment is not utilized as it should be. often after a disaster the scene is littered with safety equipment. life jackets not being worn or life rafts thrown-in to far away from the survivors to be boarded particularly if injured.

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5 Responses to “how can you have empty life rafts?”

Richard C Says:
September 27th, 2009 at 10:00 pm

Sadly too often the safety equipment is not utilized as it should be. often after a disaster the scene is littered with safety equipment. life jackets not being worn or life rafts thrown-in to far away from the survivors to be boarded particularly if injured.
References :

jason s Says:
September 27th, 2009 at 10:06 pm

As you mentioned, sometmes it’s (sadly) as simple as the raft being activated after exposure to water when there were no survivors to begin with.

Other times it’s a matter of the raft being deployed but no one is able to get into it..(more than once I have heard stories about rafts being thrown into the water and not one person thought to secure the tether until people got into it…thus the raft simply floats away)

Sometime in windy conditions the raft is open/deployed and is blown quickly away right off the vessel (think about trying to carry a large sheet of plywood on a windy day)

In the end, almost every time it is a matter of not being prepared to execute emergency procedures when the time comes…
References :

Cord S Says:
September 27th, 2009 at 10:39 pm

Some life rafts have a mechanism that activates when the ship goes down to a certain depth. It releases from the ship on its own and deploys when it floats to the surface.
References :
Had those on U.S.Navy ship I was on.

yankee_sailor Says:
September 27th, 2009 at 11:11 pm

the life rafts have hydrostatic release……a fancy name for an pressure activated razor in a casing that cuts the line holding the life-raft canister to the ship at 33 feet down.
The canister floats too the surface, trailing a line tied to the ship. Like a rip cord on a parachute, the line trips the CO2 inflation bottles in the raft, it inflates its way out of it’s case, then the ripcord breaks away so the raft is dragged under.

The rafts also all have sea anchors to keep them from drifting too far away…..

Having said all that, you loose your strength quickly in cold water, and if you are wearing some sort of survival suit you have really limited mobility.

It is very hard to climb in an inflated life-raft in a swimming pool on a good day and really tough in freezing open ocean water.
References :
sold liferafts for years.

jtexas Says:
September 27th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

after a few days at sea with no water, the survivors started halucinating, jumped out the rafts and tried to swim to a mirage island.
References :

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