Who is responsible for supplying the PLB?
 

Since all club EASA aircraft (that do not have ELTs) will be required to be equipped with PLBs soon, I would liken that to the First Aid Kit and the Fire Extinguisher. That is; a portable unit that must be carried. As far as I can ascertain the owner or the operator is responsible for equipping the aircraft with such items but the PIC must only ensure that they are in fact on board. If this were not the case I'd need another flight case for these items.


Opinions please!

PERSONAL Locator Beacon. Its all in the name.

I use a mcMurdo fast find. In fact even take it on Enduro trips in the mountains just in case!

I don't think the leglisation says who must provide it, but simply that it must be there.

If the PIC checks and it's not there, then there can be no flight. It doesn't matter who should have put it there. It's probably a bit like headsets. Often rental aircraft come with them, sometimes they don't but you can hire them. Often pilots prefer to bring their own.

If the aircraft doesn't come with headsets, it's probably slightly cheaper to rent.

Headsets are not required equipment. Aircraft can be flown with a hand mike and a speaker, or even non-radio.


It does matter who should have put it there, in the same way as it matters who should have supplied the first aid kit. (Not sure why I used capitals before)


I'm fully aware what PLB stands for bose-x, like you I've had one for years.

Am I the only person who hadn't spotted that PLBs will be a requirement soon? There's an article in Flyer it seems

I'm sure you're still in the majority.

A requirement? On which planes? In what airspace?

A PLB is registered to an individual so I can't see how a flying club can be expected to provide them.

I am more inclined to be greatful that the blind beuracrats have given us the option.

Well lets be practical, and more logical....


A Flying School is in the business of providing 'experience flights' to
members of the public, and PPL training. So the passenger, or student, will need to be issued with a PLB. So the Club will need to have spare PLBs if they have several aircraft.
So if you hire the aircraft as a PPL pilot, then in some cupboard there will be it's associated PLB gathering dust, which the club might hire to you for a quid or so.

No. The aircraft will need to be equipped with an ELT. As simple as that. Works in many other places since decades. One ELT may cost as much as two PLBs, but these will evetually get lost, stolen or broken, so installing those ELTs will be the cheapest option for every flying school and club.

Not at all. The requirement is for, "a survival ELT (ELT(S)) or a personal locator beacon (PLB), carried by a crew member or a passenger....". It may also be worth reading the associated AMCs, particularly with respect to the monitoring and replacement/recharging of ELT/PLB batteries.

It really is simple - each aircraft should have an ELT. All very clever but expensive and not practical if there are no electrics such as in a Tiger Moth or microlight.
If this is not practical etc then one person on board should have a PLB.
Note that an ELT is registered to and fitted to a specific aircraft.
A PLB is registered to a specific person and should (in theory) only be carried by that person.

In practice a microlight club will probably have a few registered to the club owner. The risk here is
that the club owner's wife will probably have a policemen at her door to tell her that her husband has been fatally splatted when he is sitting in the hanger wondering why the student is late returning.

If I recall correctly the UK had a derogation until April next year from the requirement for EASA aircraft to have an ELT fitted. After that time if there is no further derogation then you will have to have an ELT.

Also other states (such as Holland) do not have derogations so legally even in a UK registered aircraft you should have one when flying in those countries. Whilst PLBs are a good idea (and probably better since ELTs don't work underwater in the case of a ditching) they do not fulfil any legal requirement for an ELT.

I think you will find that ELTs have internal batteries (as do PLBs).

The derogation runs out this August.

Jim59 thanks

Another good reason I don't own an EASA aircraft, thankfully the two I do own are permit and Annex II :D

I am confused. To my knowledge the current change to come is the possibility to use a cheaper PLB as a replacement for a mandatory ELT - at least for certain countries. A PLB is always registered to a person, hence the name, while a fixed fitted ELT is registered to the aircraft ID and a mobile ELT can be both, registered to aircraft or person.

The PLB has to be registered to the owner or owners and can be registered to a company. The form also asks for vessel details (whether the vessel is an aircraft or not) including the callsign. I have heard of others registering them to: Aircraft - Various.

One wonders how many people will bother with all this.