Hey, I'm not dying in the ditch about this, but to answer your question:
Originally Posted by
hearna
What are the chances of a double engine failure, on planes that I might add rarely fail versus other aircraft types? And this, being outside of a glide path to YVR or YYJ.
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.. the answer would be "finite". But doesn't need a double engine failure. How about a westerly take-off from YVR (ie over water), with a birdstrike on one engine at the point of, or very soon after lift-off (slow speed, negligable altitude) and maybe an over-weight plane? I reckon a fair chance of ending up in the drink. Sure, close to help, but so was US1549 and I bet those folks were glad to have their life jackets.
And sure, its very, very unlikely, but many plane accidents result from the very, very unlikely combination of things going wrong.
The weight of opinion here clearly is that 'no life jackets' on this sector isn't a problem. I'm just genuinely surprised they made a calculated decision that life jackets would never be needed. I'll have a look at that older thread now - thanks CD_YOW for posting it.