Page 134 - Demo

132inflating my lifejacket - because I popped back out again pretty smartly. I struggled out of my harness, pulled the dinghy towards me and inflated it. Getting into it wasn%u2019t that easy, since I seemed to be a bit tangled up in straps and cords and things, but I even remembered to sling the sea drogue (designed to hold the dinghy into wind) as I made my undignified entrance.Things got a little less hectic then; it was a warm and sunny July afternoon with a light breeze, so I did a spot of sunbathing. I was having difficulty in hauling my survival kit on board, and the dinghy seemed to be trying to sink itself, but I couldn%u2019t get too bothered about that. I could see the remains of the smoke from where my jet had hit the water, and inland another tell-tale plume of smoke bore witness to the fact that the Tornado hadn%u2019t done much better than me. I could see the helicopter getting airborne from base, and rejoiced in the knowledge that they would always attend to a survivor in the water before one on land.Meanwhile, back in the air, confusion reigned. The 4 of my formation who hadn%u2019t seen the Tornado, and didn%u2019t really know what had gone on, were broadcasting their best guesses on Approach. Frog, on the other hand, was telling it like it was on Tower. In the midst of this mayhem, in an exemplary display of either devotion to duty or lack of situational awareness, the leader of the last formation %u2013 which was still on the ground %u2013 called %u2018Cresta, stand by to hack5%u2019. His only reward was a response from the duty pilot, %u2018Sid, you%u2019re going nowhere%u2019. My exciting afternoon wasn%u2019t quite over yet, though. The helicopter approached, and I tried to disentangle myself, so that I could be winched up. I remember feeling that something was not quite right about this, but it wasn%u2019t until I was pulled clear of the water that I realised that, contrary to every dinghy drill I had ever done, the chopper had come from behind me instead of from in front. As I dangled on the wire, it became apparent why this was. From the front end of my dinghy hung a limp 6%u201d drogue; from the other end billowed a nicely deployed 18-foot one %u2013 the result of my never