Regs for flight over water?
I saw a post on the Flyer list that suggested the 3 points below are now required. Item 3 is OK (i.e. captain decides), but 1 would make my perfectly OK lifejacket illegal and 2 could be the financial straw that breaks the camels back - apart from being daft in the first place (portables are excluded)
Can anybody confirm or deny them, along with credible sources?
1. Life jacket: each person on board an aircraft, flying over the water and out of gliding distance from land, must wear a suitably equipped life jacket, ie fitted with whistle and sealight. Furthermore, the life jacket must be serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
2. ELT: each aircraft must carry a CAA/EASA Approved ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter), fitted to the airframe, and which has both the emergency frequencies of 406MHz and 121.5MHz.
3. Life rafts: the carriage of life rafts is a very complicated issue, but for the purpose of our operations, is not a legal requirement, although the CAA recommends that PICs should consider the advisability of whether or not to carry a life raft on a case by case basis. Further information can be found in “Safety Sense Leaflet 21b - Ditching. In simple terms it is a matter to be decided by the PIC.