Anybody here who have experience from freefall lifeboats, in training or real life launch?
I’ve taken a couple free-fall rides—once as a coxswain, once as a passenger, both for training. My recollections are as follows:
The coxswain’s chair faces forward, but locks into a reclined position for launch, which compresses the spine upon impact—not the most comfortable experience. All the other seats face aft, so as long as you keep your head back against the headrest it’s actually a surprisingly mellow experience.
The boat is launched with the engine running and all hatches/vents closed, so there are compressed air cylinders to provide breathing air to both the crew and the engine. One time the crew member in the bow (where the cylinders were located) was ordered to open the valve. He reported back that he had done so, when in fact (as we learned later) he was too panicked about unstrapping from his seat and had not. The engine proceeded to suck the available air from the space. I recall feeling increasingly woozy, and was relieved when the coxswain finally got us launched. A violent (and welcome) whoosh of fresh air entered once he opened the overhead vent. Lesson learned: make sure crew members understand how to open the air, and don’t assign that job to someone who isn’t comfortable with the responsibility.
When lifting the boat from the water on previous retrieval, the safety for on-load release systems must be considered carefully to provide hook stability, fully in the closed position, for the weight of the lifeboat does not cause any force to be transmitted to the operating mechanism, and locking devices cannot turn to open due to forces from the hook load.