Video

Live test: Backpack & Lifejacket?

published on 30 September 2021 - 375 -

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Found on YouTube. Created by "Marine-Pilots". Originally published on 2021-09-28.

Video and text by Herman Broers:
When publishing articles or pictures about pilots and their pilot ladders, very often we see the use of backpacks. The use of backpacks is controversial, since its weight, or buoyancy, can influence the functioning of the lifejacket used.

With a lot being said about the issue, the only way to find out if my backpack is hampering my lifejacket in any way is a live test. So today was the day. With my own lifejacket, with my own backpack.

In this short video, the lifejacket of The dutch pilots is put to the test in combination with a backpack. The so-called 3D lifejacket (SECUMAR ALPHA 275 X PILOT) has specifically been designed with a so-called 3D air chamber to compensate the weight of any bag used.

www.pilotladdersafety.com

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A community member on 8 October 2021, 17:29 UTC

This comment has been removed.

Mackenzie Moseley British Columbia Coast Pilots, Canada

on 8 October 2021, 17:29 UTC

I agree… why would you wear a backpack on a pilot ladder? It weighs down the wearer if the PFD fails to inflate, and could restrict inflation.

Furthermore, an inflatable PFD has no natural floatation, it requires proper automatic operation and inflation to become a PFD, and when inflated is subject to damages scraping down the side of a barnacle covered ship or being beat up in the recovery process; then you’d have no buoyancy and the weight of a backpack. Add being unconscious and you’re breathing water.

Why not just wear a foam PFD and eliminate these risks and variables?

At least they’re wearing a helmet, that’s good.

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Pedro Cardoze Panama Canal Pilots Association, Panama

on 30 September 2021, 15:59 UTC

An opinion: Why would a pilot climb a pilot ladder with a backpack instead of sending it on a heaving line? It’s, in my opinion, not a safe practice.

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