Ditching Configurations

What the system is

Two forward and two aft float installations in dedicated fuselage openings, two gas distribution/inflation systems, and four immersion switches. Demonstrated and approved for ditching up to Sea State 6 (significant wave height 4–6 m) at weights up to 4800 kg — well beyond the Sea State 4 that ditching regulations actually require.

The Floatation Control Panel, in the interseat console, has a TEST/OFF/ARMED master switch. OFF isolates power from the water sensors and the guarded collective-grip pushbuttons. ARMED makes the discharge valves live — via water sensor immersion or the pilot/copilot's guarded FLOAT pushbutton. TEST checks the electrical activation circuit's continuity as part of preflight, and is automatically disabled in flight by the weight-on-wheels switch.

Two liferafts are carried, in one of two configurations: Carry-On (stowed on a seat, deployed manually through a Type IV emergency exit, reduces passenger capacity from 8 to 7) or Sponson (mounted in the sponsons themselves, no seating impact, with an external activation handle accessible from outside the aircraft for a water-side deployment).

Hard rules

The floatation system and liferafts exist for ditching only — floatation bags and liferafts must never be inflated in flight. Takeoff after ditching is prohibited. Total occupants, crew included, must not exceed 11 when forecast sea conditions along the route exceed 2.5 m significant wave height. With retractable bear paws fitted, the gear must be retracted before extended overwater flight. Bear paws, snow pads, and snow skis (Supplements 8, 45, 50) are explicitly listed as not compliant with ditching requirements — fit any of those and the ditching approval no longer applies.

The ditching sequence

Preliminary: brief crew and passengers, notify ATC, transponder to 7700, seatbelt sign on, secure loose equipment, cabin doors confirmed closed (they stay closed throughout — opening them lets in the water that would otherwise be kept out), mute HTAWS, inhibit the low-height aural, life vests and harnesses on and tightened.

Approach: set the radar altimeter (height-over-water is notoriously hard to judge by eye, hence the specific caution to use RadAlt cues), wipers fast, pitot heat off, confirm FLOATS EMER armed, assess sea state and wind, establish a ditching heading and a descent profile that targets no more than 30 kt groundspeed at water contact, emergency lights on, alert everyone for impact, transmit final position, brace order over the PA, and — if power allows — establish a hover at a safe height first. Touch down cushioning the impact with the collective, aircraft level or slightly nose-up (5°), avoiding any rearward movement.

On water contact: both engine mode knobs OFF, lift the guard and press FLOAT on either collective grip (the bags inflate automatically on touchdown regardless, but this is the manual backup), survival equipment on, emergency exits open/eject, release both liferafts, deploy the ELT, initiate evacuation over the PA, and only once the rotor has fully stopped does passenger evacuation actually begin. Master Cut-Off Switch off, then abandon the helicopter.

At high touchdown speeds the aircraft can roll and yaw left after touchdown from gyroscopic effects — that's a real, anticipated tendency the pilot needs to actively correct for, not a sign something's gone wrong.

FLOAT DEGR

Triggered by bottle pressure too high or too low for ambient conditions, a faulty pressure transducer, or a faulty float switch. The floats may not actually work if ditching becomes necessary with this caution showing — the response is simply to continue the flight according to operational requirements, i.e., this is a dispatch/risk-picture item, not something with its own corrective checklist.