Pace
I've never crossed water with anything other than qualified pilots on board where we have discussed the risk and done a drill for a possible ditching. Would I take non pilot pax? No. Having said that I would have no qualms about doing Dover- Cap GN at 6,000 or above (6,500 being class A of course at that point) with non pilot pax as that's within a glide of land/beach.
Edit: As an aside, I did a bit of a Scotland tour in May with a flying buddy of mine in a 28. The last leg was Leuchars-Waddington which he flew. The leg from Anstruther-Dunbar across the Firth is 15 nm, only 2 miles less than Dover-Cap GN. Taking off from Leuchars we were only at around 2,000 and climbing when we crossed the coast and never gave it a second thought as it was 'just' an estuary.
Last edited by Dave Wilson; 22nd December 2013 at 21:50.