PHD,
Very interesting post.
Please direct me to the relevant CAO that differentiates lifejacket standards for GA, charter or RPT..
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Most people can be trained to perform these inspections and tests competently after about 2-3 hours on a relevant training course.
Trained perhaps, but qualified and authorised by a relevant authority such as AMSA or CASA? I would suggest not. The assertion of anyone being trained to inspect lifejackets is fine so long is it is confined to jackets for their own private use. If I use or provide a jacket to a third party then I want to make sure the item is going to be able to perform its job in an emergency and being inspected by someone who knows "a little about them" doesn't quite cut it with me.
I had one jacket recently returned which was partially inflated. I cannot say for sure, but the balance of probabilities leads me to the conclusion that it was being worn, inflated, inside the aircraft during an over water flight. As a trainer in helicopter underwater escape I know only to well the dangers of this practice.
Back to my orginal question:
Where can I find authoritative advice which states
either way that if a jacket has been tampered with or removed from packaging since last survey then it is considered not to be serviceable as a lifesaving device in an aircraft.