The text of the state law, passed back in June is here:
http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdat...asp?did=722316
It does also include a requirement for a PFD, not currently required in practice by FAA for helicopters in the GOM.
Its no different in concept from the sort of survivability rules in Alaska.
It seems the UK has resolved its problems:
Selected Press Release - Oil & Gas UK
Personal locator beacons to be back in use from Monday, 8 February 2010
Oil & Gas UK can today (4 February 2010) confirm that personal locator beacons will be progressively reintroduced on North Sea helicopter flights from Monday, 8 February 2010.
The reintroduction will take place on 3 consecutive weekends, with the Aberdeen hub being the first to receive the equipment on Monday, 8 February, followed by the Southern North Sea helicopter hubs and Scatsa in Shetland. The beacon reintroduced on these hubs is the Sea Marshall AU9-HT, which has been approved by the CAA and tested extensively for inadvertent operation and interference with helicopter systems.
For Liverpool Bay, the Rhotheta RT-B77 (also CAA approved and tested) is currently being manufactured and will be rolled out as soon as the required quantities are available.
Robert Paterson, Oil & Gas UK’s health and safety director, explained: “As PLBs are still being manufactured, it is not feasible to reintroduce these across the entire industry at once, however we felt it important to start the roll out as soon as possible, and this means doing it by individual hubs.
“Not only have the technical difficulties with PLBs interfering with other transmitters been resolved, we have also adopted much more robust life-jacket mounted PLBs, which will drastically decrease the likelihood of inadvertent operation during a flight. In addition, we have prepared a training DVD on the correct use of the beacons which each worker has to watch before boarding the helicopter.”
As already noted, on the Turkish accident thread, most fixed ELTs in the GOM fail to go off anyway.
Clearly some one has changed their tune from 2005:
Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) may be the newest safety-related device to generate attention of offshore helicopter operators, which want to back up the Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) on their helicopters. For instance, Bristow Aviation carries two ELTs in each helicopter and one mounted on the external airframe that automatically deploys upon impact. As yet, Bristow has no requirements for PLBs, but the technology is generating keen interest among several operators. McMurdo Pains Wessex Inc. a leading manufacturer of Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB), offers its FastFind Plus PLB with or without built-in GPS capability. Measuring less than 6-in. long and weighing 9 ounces, the FastFind Plus can fit easily into a life-vest. The device is 406 MHz compliant, which means it is more effective in deep water operations than early-model PLBs operating only on 121.5 MHz homing frequency.
FastFind offers both frequencies. The PLB also transmits the letter "P" distress signal, which tells rescuers that this is a PLB from a civil operator, not a military operator.
According to the NOAA SARSAT website, which lists all the rescues resulting from 406 MHz signals, there were several rescues of fishing and sailing vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. None involved helicopters or airplanes.
This statistic aside, offshore operators and the watchful petroleum industry may soon seriously consider FastFind Plus, said James Chandler, vice president OF McMurdo Pains Wessex, USA. The U.S. Coast Guard has ordered 14,500 units.
Aviation Today :: An Offshore Lifeline
Just a thought, isn't more likely their will be multiple beacons after a ship sinks?