How to Survive a Plane Crashing into Water (Episode 3)

don't try this at home it's one of the oldest cliches and television but for real what you're about to see in this next story please do not try it at home we sent ABC's Matt Gutman to see if he could survive some simulated disasters including a plane crash and being stranded in shark-infested waters and as you will see he took these challenges very very seriously this was a normal flight for furred and wedges and eight others gliding towards Honolulu last year suddenly an alarm engine just made a sound the rattle the loss of altitude and that shattering impact the whole life just goes in front of you as the water rushes in passengers managed to escape before the plane 6oh but one of them survived all of it caught on tape this quintus never stopped rolling if you think there's nothing better to do but brace yourself and pray your plane crashes into the water the Coast Guard has another answer prepared last month I became the first reporter to ever go through the Coast Guard's grueling crash survival training here in Elizabeth City North Carolina welcome to aviation technical training center my training ground this beast the dunker which simulates a plane crashing sinking and then flipping over in the water if you give that I'm stuck signal we can pull the toggle all the seat belts come undone right away the divers grab you give you fresh air very quick most of the previous class had to tap out same calm is the key to getting out of life before the dunker a briefing with the rescue team assigned to ensure I don't drown I want you to wait all motion stopped release that window grab a reference point before you under your seatbelt got that if you're about to crash my instructor say hold on to something then after the crash remove any obstacles like arm rests and only then unbuckle your belt and then get to a window or a door as quickly as possible a little tense I made it now the hard part a different scenario altogether this time the dunker simulates a boat capsizing in the open ocean the wind helped but the way to save yourself the boat capsizes I get the belt off and find the door but there are three handles and I don't know which one will open the door I'm turning the wrong one nearly a minute in running out of air I have to tap out and allow the rescuers to do their job instantly they yank me out watch again how quickly they pulled me from the boat jerking my body through the door and to the surface if that had been in a real-world situation bit of that day I would have been dead would have been dead but I'm not dead and I had to try it again rewarded with that high-five but what if you do survive a crash then one the Coast Guard takes us out on the water they then have me jump in and chilly Chesapeake waters to fend for myself I think I could swim about a mile or 800 yards or a thousand yards they say not to stay put burns a lot of energy to try to swim especially with a life jacket on and closed just wait for help to arrive don't scream because no one will hear you above the engines try to wave your arms in the air perhaps if you have a flair use it most important stay calm let the Coast Guard and others do their job a few minutes later they pull me out I'm up what if they had it just this week these kayakers found themselves in infested waters off the coast of Florida a 13 foot hammerhead shark trailing them for two miles bumping their kayaks he had my rudder and you know driving my whole kayak just following us steadily and creepily a little bit of Jaws action there but what do you do if you find yourself surrounded by these sharks and you're in the water we enlisted Army Special Operations soldier Terry Schappert do this through our worst case scenario shipwrecked with Sean's Schappert took us to an especially Sharky part of the Bahamas natural beauty belies what's beneath these sharks since Mel a part of blood in a million parts of water okay so everything down there is going to smell like food including you we're simulating a normal person getting dumped in shark-infested waters trick is we have chain mail to protect us don't try this at home ready now off we go gallantly I let Terry go first I just know there's papanasam I get left we each hold on to what could be debris from a crash anything to stay afloat conserve energy and it's in the midst of this school 25 shards GMAT my pleasure begins whether it's great lights or reef sharks which have a far less lethal bite Terry says the advice is the same so let's try to get back to back an hour late darn online now we got each other for protection if we're on top of the water thrashing yeah that's potential food right they come in and it becomes an attack yeah you're gonna have to strike them all right whip-snap what's down and that way you're going to guarantee that if end up somewhere around here they don't like so it's you guys and yield the note now exactly man this is where all their sensory stuff is concentrate man all you can do is fight and let them know I'm not going down easy team within minutes the Sharks are all over us and it's a fight to keep them off the best thing for me right now is running them off with my feet kind of like that one yeah you do the best to help keep mopping but it doesn't always work the Sharks keep coming yeah you're safe you're coding therapy watch this one going right over my head let's get in and that is enough for me for Nightline I'm Matt Gutman in the Bahamas

Channel: ABC News

Views: 157,012

Keywords: Coast Guard, Coast Guard Survival Tips, Plane Crash, Plane Crash Survival Tips, Plane in Water, Water Survival Tips, Nightline, US, Travel

Id: InA85ZI-pCA

Length: 6min 18sec (378 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 14 2014