Donning the Switlik Immersion Suit

It  is quite a dance to don this immersion suit…it’s kind of like a metamorphosis. Whew!


It’s quite hot to wear but if we happen to ditch I have less than 10 minutes to live without an immersion suit in this 32 degree water. With the Switlik suit I have between 1.75 to 6 hours of survival depending on the layers of thermal underwear worn underneath the suit…I guess I’ll take being hot.


I’m actually rigging a flexible tube off Miss Behavin’s air vent to stick minus degree temperature air into the suit while flying. After all, necessity is the mother of invention…and I need to be and remain cool.


After the pants are on now I struggle with the top


Putting the arms in


One arm through






Where is my head?

Where's my head



There's my head popping out

There's my head popping out


Still a squeeze to get the head out

Still a squeeze to get the head out



Making an ugly face squeezing my head out

Making an ugly face squeezing my head out


Almost free

Almost free


Just about to be freed from the neck enclosure

Just about to be freed from the neck enclosure


Freedom at last...whew!

Freedom at last...whew!


This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Ditching and Survival Gear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.