Posted on 08/03/2007 9:11:41 AM PDT by Daffynition
What wimps. When I went through helicopter dunker training, we had no knives and did it blindfolded three times! No $hit, Miramar NAS, 1988.
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Great advice. Thanks so much.
I didn’t get the chance in the big dunker however, (the one that simulated a big helicopter like a Chinook or Sea Knight) but my buddies who did told me that was a fun experience! Nothing like getting a boot in the face as you and a bunch of other guys all try to get out after being blindfolded, submerged, and inverted.
Oh geesh.
“Chances of surviving for those still submerged in the river now almost 24 hours later are remote”
Did they ask those submerged if they were wearing their belts?
How many stuck there were stuck in place because of the belt?
It was fun after you got over the sheer terror of what you were about to have to do. We were also trained on the Helicopter Emergency Escape Device (HEED) which is like a miniature scuba tank you carry on your vest. It has 5 minutes of air. Fortunately I never had to use it for real.
And it’s worse with today’s most-common seatbelt-latch design. It’s DIFFFICULT to unhook with a thin vertical “button” enclosed by the casing from the END of the body.
The old seatbelts were better, where the button was in the middle of the HORIZONTAL plane and easy to push.
Of course, I’m sure they were “thinking of the children” when they re-designed to the vertical orientation - so the children won’t unlatch. Of course.
I just think of Mary Jo Kopechne (sp?). We all know thanks to her that you don’t survive very long under water even with an air pocket.
Waving my hand here.
But many of them landed on their BUTTS with that force. At least those who were on still-horizontal sections. Airbags ain’t helping much there. That night I heard about butt injuries. And I know something about the latter, too!
The school bus didn't fall off the bridge, thank God. It stopped a few feet short. If it had, those kids would have likely been dead.
Wear your seat belts.
No, but it's a darn fine chance that each person who did escape from their car after it hit the water was wearing their seatbelt. It's a logical fallacy to assume that if x=y then z=/=y.
Those who both wear seatbelts and those who do not wear seatbelts die in accidents such as this. Those who wear seatbelts have a dramatically improved chance to survive accidents such as this.
Yeah..but maybe just long enough for a certain, ahem, *gentleman* to rescue you or get help...that is if he isn't too drunk or too busy running off to find his lawyer.
You could ask my aunt, since she is alive, about it.
Her car flipped upside down into a water-filled ditch, breaking the windows, and instantly filling the car with water.
If she had had to fumble with unfastening the seatbelt, chances are overwhelmingly slender that she would have made it out.
Seriously?? Are you depressed/suicidal? Or is it one of those things where you didn’t wear a seatbelt when you learned to drive in 1934 and you’ll be darned if you’ll start now?
Of course, everyone has an relative who would have been dead if he had been wearing a seatbelt. It's always the case.
I, on the other hand, have been in 3 accidents where there has been a person killed. On my count, there were a total of 11 people involved in those accidents. 4 dead, 1 hospitalized, 6 walk aways. All 4 of the dead were not wearing seatbelts. All 7 of the survivors were.
So I'll take my personal experiences, weigh them against your aunt's miraculous survival story and come to the conclusion... wearing a seatbelt increases your survival odds by a gigantic proportion.
Awesome.
I’m curious, though. Do you believe that there should be a law requiring the wearing of seatbelts?
I’ll counter, do you believe there should be a speed limit?
Yes.
Your turn.
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