Chris Brooks: flight surgeon and marine survival expert who designed lifesaving equipment for the Canadian navy and air force

Chris Brooks was dangling from the hoist of a Sea King helicopter over a fishing trawler 60 miles off the coast of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. As a flight surgeon with the Royal Canadian Navy he was preparing to rescue a fisherman with a knife wound whose guts were being held in by a sanitary towel. It occurred to him that, should the Sea King ditch, he would be the first to drown.

This episode sparked an interest in marine survival. He undertook research into surviving helicopter ditchings, introduced new lifejackets and immersion suits for the Royal Canadian Air Force and Navy, and created emergency breathing apparatus for helicopter crew and passengers.

As part of a team at Canada’s Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine (DCIEM) he helped devise a survival pack for helicopter pilots’ ejection seats. It contained a whistle, knife, chocolate, and a life raft—as well as shark repellent.

The team also developed the first centrifuge in Canada to train pilots for high acceleration manoeuvres, cobbled together from the carcass of a second world war centrifuge and …