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I think this tragedy has preparedness and survival themes. Just goes to show you S can HTF anytime anywhere. It's probably not going to be a TEOTWAWKI scenario that you need to be prepared for.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why at the first signs of bad weather, no one was up passing out the onboard life jackets. Is normalcy bias that strong? Is situational awareness that rare?:confused:

It just seems like this was a mostly survivable event.
 
If the owner or passengers had known what is already common information, characteristics and history of the "Duck", NOBODY would set board on one. Just me. Dangerous craft but there was a war going on. There are some things you just gotta know. Big mega cruise ships are another. Those European floating tour buses are yet another. Yikes. :(
 
I have ridden on the Duck once when our cruise ship made landfall in Boston, MA. We took a city tour that also included a Duck boat ride into the Charles River. Did not have any wind or anything. But the MO Duck had gusty winds of 60 mph and so the Duck driver should have known better and everyone should have had their life jackets on.
 
I have ridden on the Duck once when our cruise ship made landfall in Boston, MA. We took a city tour that also included a Duck boat ride into the Charles River. Did not have any wind or anything. But the MO Duck had gusty winds of 60 mph and so the Duck driver should have known better and everyone should have had their life jackets on.

Exactly. Why did all those people just die instead of take seemingly obvious steps to ensure survival?
 
Like most disasters, there were a series of mistakes/bad decisions at play here.

That is very true. Look at some of the airline crashes over the years where pilot and co-pilot spend time working on the an issue failing to keep the airplane in the air which is a primary concern above everything else.

ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar 1 N310EA Everglades, FL

Also the Air France A330 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean since the both co-pilots were in the cockpit and they were pushing on the control sticks at the same time and that canceled the control stick input.

 
I have owned 7 of these, 3 Alvis Stalwart's made in England and 2 WW 2 Dukw's like the one that went down, a LARC 5 and a larc X. They have always fascinated me. The Alvis's had been used for tours in Baltimore and were equal parts boat and truck. The Dukw's are more truck than boat and the LARC's are very much more boat than truck. We used many of them in my salvage busisness and they were very effective. There have been several fatal accidents with these vehicles in the tourist trade.......that is what put the Baltimore company down. These people were obviously not paying attention to the weather reports and were complacent with the PFD's. Looks like a lot of non swimmers too boot. The vehicles are quite seaworthy but it was obviously overcome by the weather, I am sure it has insufficient bilge pumps that contribute to the foundering. Some of the earlier insodents were caused by operators forgetting to install rhe bilge bung plug. That went down by the stern and had multiple casualties. Never the less a tragedy.
 
There's a reason those military amphibious transports were open topped.

A full length fixed canvas canopy is a death trap on such a vessel. In a cross wind, it is a sail that disrupts stability. Turn into the wind and it impedes forward progress. Run with the wind it takes tailwinds. The craft was never designed with such unwanted inputs in mind and is made dangerous by it in all but the calmest weather.

In a capsize, it prevents the possibility of righting by acting as a sea anchor. In a situation where the vessel sinks upright, it impedes exit by those with flotation devices.

I would never step foot on a covered one.
 
I have owned 7 of these, 3 Alvis Stalwart's made in England and 2 WW 2 Dukw's like the one that went down, a LARC 5 and a larc X. They have always fascinated me. The Alvis's had been used for tours in Baltimore and were equal parts boat and truck. The Dukw's are more truck than boat and the LARC's are very much more boat than truck. We used many of them in my salvage busisness and they were very effective. There have been several fatal accidents with these vehicles in the tourist trade.......that is what put the Baltimore company down. These people were obviously not paying attention to the weather reports and were complacent with the PFD's. Looks like a lot of non swimmers too boot. The vehicles are quite seaworthy but it was obviously overcome by the weather, I am sure it has insufficient bilge pumps that contribute to the foundering. Some of the earlier insodents were caused by operators forgetting to install rhe bilge bung plug. That went down by the stern and had multiple casualties. Never the less a tragedy.

Then there was the one where the exhaust got back up into the cabin and offed a bunch.
 
Exactly. Why did all those people just die instead of take seemingly obvious steps to ensure survival?
Yea - like jumping overboard? Thats EXACTLY what i would have done - early on - I am comfortable in water and would rather take my chances in it than on this abortion of a boat.
 
Yea - like jumping overboard? Thats EXACTLY what i would have done - early on - I am comfortable in water and would rather take my chances in it than on this abortion of a boat.

One of the survivors said they knew the life vest were there but were waiting for someone to tell them to put them on. Tragic result of years of conditioning. I am not putting these people down I just want to reinforce the idea of common sense. I was on a sail boat once with a friend and I had to invoke some common sense.

I get that conditions change quickly but I wonder if there are so many known issues with these vessels, why aren't countermeasures available. They appear to be fairly simple.
 
Yea - like jumping overboard? Thats EXACTLY what i would have done - early on - I am comfortable in water and would rather take my chances in it than on this abortion of a boat.

This is a pic of the duck boat moments before it went down... that canopy has plastic windows that go all the way down... it is completely enclosed. :(

5b53385657a20735008b4574-750.jpg
duckboat.760;428;7;70;5.jpg

One of the survivors said they knew the life vest were there but were waiting for someone to tell them to put them on. Tragic result of years of conditioning. I am not putting these people down I just want to reinforce the idea of common sense.

Yes, this happens consistently... a good example is the twin towers on 9/11... some survived because they ignored the commands to stay in place until help arrived, they booked and got out, many stories of people going down the stairs as firemen and cops went up, meanwhile too many just sat at their desks or stood at the windows. :(:(

Studies have shown that the people that survive some of the plane crashes are the ones that climbed over seats, etc, instead of waiting politely behind others lined up in the aisles and waiting for flight attendant instruction.

Point: Your survival is YOUR responsibility... you must ACT. Take action, passivity kills!
 
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Alas, those souls who survived state "the Captain" stated the passengers didn't need their vests and everyone would be fine! Perhaps the crew didn't want the PFDs soiled or to have to straighten out the straps and put them back away.

The souls who were lost were just out experiencing a family gathering or enjoying their friend's company and it maybe was their first time on a body of water or around a body of water where they are not familar with the safety protocols while on a water going vessel.

The craft's crew, operator of the craft, Captain, as well as the organizational owners should be immediately held accountable for involuntary homicide by the Coast Guard since they are responsible for the craft -both maintenance and handling, knowing the immediate environment of the body of water, as well as knowing how the weather patterns manifest on said body of water!
 
This is a sad state of affairs. Watching them interview a woman on TV that lost her kids and watched it all go down. I can't even imagine the heart ache that will go along with this the rest of her life.

But IMHO not all the blame can go on the company(most but not all). If it were me, my kids would never have gotten on the dang thing and if they had they sure as heck would have had there life jackets on.
 

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