Miller was lucky to have not locked the baggage compartment door, as many pilots do, or he might never have retrieved his survival equipment. If you do not have to lock this access door, don t. In some aircraft the locked latch makes it more difficult to use the baggage compartment door as an emergency exit. Care must be taken however, to be sure the latch is fail-safe and well maintained, so it cannot inadvertently open in the air. Even in Florida the water can get cold in the winter months.
Cold water is deadly.
Attempts to swim to shore would hasten the onset of hypothermia and death. A raft is the best defense against hypothermia. Miller s four person life raft was not equipped with a canopy. A canopy is critical to maintaining body temperature once the survivors are out of the water. While this ditching occurred within sight of land, it could have easily turned into a disaster if Miller had not been carrying the life raft.