Praise be to the CAA! They have listened and acted.
For Private single engine helicopter flights over water, from Jan 2006, a portable ELT will be required for any flight that is more than 10 minutes from land at cruise speed.
Fixed ELT and Float proposals abandoned. And other safety equipment will be the Commander's decision.
Well done to all who wrote in response to the Consultation. We await the actual ANO wording....
in the meantime this is from the CAA website:
"Changes to the proposal The CAA has considered comments 1-5-1 to 1-5-10 and information available from the UK accident record. It appears that, for small helicopters at least, ditchings may be generally survivable even without floatation equipment. Although the technical requirements of floatation equipment are common to all helicopters, irrespective of the purpose of the flight, it is accepted that the requirements for General Aviation do not have to be the same as for public transport operations. Implementation of requirements for helicopter floatation equipment would mean that many owners would be unable to comply, and would in effect be prohibited from flying to many destinations in accordance with established custom and practice. For the types of helicopter where compliance is feasible, the costs of compliance may be considered to be unjustified (see 1-15-4), particularly where owners fly over water for only a few hours each year. (See also 1-G-7 and comments made in relation to other emergency equipment, 1-10-15 and 1-10-17). Having considered all of the foregoing, the CAA has decided that it would be inappropriate to mandate permanent or rapidly deployable means of floatation for General Aviation helicopter flights over water, although owners may of course continue to fit such equipment if they wish."
