infant lifejackets

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lost in the north
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infant lifejackets

Post by lost in the north »

Trying to find out what the cars say about carrying infant/children life jackets in floatplanes.I sent in a briefing card for approval and was told I needed to have a diagram of infants/children donning life jackets(with an adult helping).
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Bushav8er
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Re: infant lifejackets

Post by Bushav8er »

Funny, infants don't require seat belts but me must save them, after the fact, by providing a flotation device. Not really clear though as they must provide enough flotation based on weight therefore an adult jacket would provide that.
Current
CAN/CGSB-65.15-M88 , Personal Flotation Devices for Children, Amendment No. 4 dated January 1997
or
CAN/CGSB-65.15-M88 , Personal Flotation Devices for Children, published April 1988 and Amendments Nos. 1 through 3
(CGSB - Canadian Coast Guard Standards Board) Just google the numbers and you get sites with pics.

Under Part V - Airworthiness
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/r ... tm#551_403

reference -
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/r ... htm#602_62
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CD
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Re: infant lifejackets

Post by CD »

Nothing is ever as simple as it appears... :wink:

Ok, first things first. As Bushav8er provided in his second link, section 602.62 is the operating rule that requires a means of flotation for each person carried on board an aircraft taking off from or landing on water:
No person shall conduct a take-off or a landing on water in an aircraft ... unless a life preserver, individual flotation device or personal flotation device is carried for each person on board.
Therefore, if you are going to permit the carriage of infants, then you will require a means of flotation as an infant is a person. For the safety features card, there are likely two elements that would require the information to be included:
...location of life preservers and correct procedures for removal from stowage/packaging; donning and use of the life preservers for adult, child and infant users including when to inflate...

The safety information provided by the card shall ... be accurate for the aeroplane type and configuration in which it is carried and in respect of the equipment carried [and] be presented with clear separation between each instructional procedure. All actions required to complete a multi-action procedure are to be presented in correct sequence and the sequence of actions are to be clearly identified
Now, as to the question of what means of flotation you can provide, the answer is a bit more tricky. You will note from the operating rule that three means of flotation are listed: life preserver, individual flotation device and personal flotation device. Each of these pieces of equipment has an equivalent list of acceptable standards in Chapter 551 of the Airworthiness Manual:

551.401 - Life Saving Equipment Over Water - Life Preservers
551.402 - Life Saving Equipment Over Water - Individual Flotation Devices (IFD)
551.403 - Life Saving Equipment Over Water - Personal Flotation Devices (PFD)

But, there is a problem. You cannot use the standards listed for PFDs as the only means of flotation on board the aircraft due to a conflict in the existing regulations. There is a definition in section 101.01 that specifies only a single standard for PFDs, which is out-of-date. There were two reguatory change proposals put forward in 2003 to correct the problem and permit the use of PFDs meeting the standards listed in 551.403 -- but those changes have yet to be made:

NPA 2003-026 - Interpretation - ""Deletion of Definition for Personal Flotation Device""
NPA 2003-027 - Equipment Standard - Personal Flotation Device

Until those two changes to the regulations are made, if you want to use a device meeting the standards listed in 551.403, you must also carry on board an equivalent number of devices meeting one of the TSO standards (most likely, TSO-C13f life preservers).

Also, whatever device you choose, make certain that you review the operating limitations. Almost all of the flotation devices will have either an upper or lower weight limit for use. For example, an adult life preserver has a lower weight limit of 90 pounds. Therefore, it is not intended for use by someone weighing less than this and would not perform the way it was intended. Most life preservers are combination child-adult, but even these have a lower weight limit of 35 pounds and would not be appropriate for an infant.

Also, as an aside, CGSB is the acronym for Canadian General Standards Board, not coast guard.

After all that ... what was the question again? :rolleyes:
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