Would never have happened if the correct safety regulations had been followed:
If the pilot had used the plane’s PA system to brief the passengers after the engine stopped, his instructions would have been heard on the video right along with the cockpit alarm. Unexpectedly, one hears no pilot briefing or instructions about any water landing or to don any PFDs.
Another confirmation of the absence of such a briefing is that four of the first five passengers to exit the plane weren’t wearing life jackets, the 5th didn’t inflate his, and the sixth was carrying his on his way out of the craft!
That passenger in the lower right picture is the videographer. He might have been highly stressed to forget to inflate his lifejacket; he’s apparently relaxing by listening to his tunes—in mono. Or … maybe not.
In its Final Report, the NTSB faulted the pilot’s terse pre-flight briefing, of “You know the procedures!” That NTSB Report noted that if that briefing had been properly given, it might have allowed passengers more easily and quickly to find their proper life jackets and might have prevented Ms Fuddy, the reported fatality, not to have had to use an infant life jacket. Her reported stress, fear and hyperventilation was noted by the medical examiner as having given rise to a heart arrhythmia as her Cause of Death.
As yet, The Fuddy Estate has not leveled Complaint against the Pilot.
If there was ever a case of claimed pilot-briefings of his passengers that went seriously wrong, this was it!
Fred, I think the essence of this event had nothing to do with following correct safety regulations. ('Zatchu behind Gandalf?)
