I do not think there is a “packed vest” regulation. But there is, in Denmark, until Part-NCO, a requirement that vests should be approved in order for the airplane to be generally airworthy. And the cheapest and easiest way to maintain approved vests is to buy one airliner type vest (repacked every 10 years) for each seat and just stuff them in the seat back pockets. So that is how it is done in 90+% of all the GA airplanes I have seen here.
There is absolutely no way to put on a vest in a small airplane, probably not even if you are sitting on the ground, engine off, and with all the time in the world. But very few pilots reflect on that. A couple I have asked say they simply – consciously – ignore the possibility of engine failure. At least they have made some kind of decision.
And while I myself not maintain gliding altitude 100% of the time I do not wear a vest, at least I try to. After I started using SkyDemon regularly I find that it is always on showing the glide distance ring, and I use it to determine start of descent.
And the cheapest and easiest way to maintain approved vests is to buy one airliner type vest (repacked every 10 years) for each seat and just stuff them in the seat back pockets
That is a strange regulation because if you take the more normal GA life jacket
and it has not been unpacked, why would there be a presumption that it is not airworthy?
One could make the same argument for life jackets and even lifeboats on ferries, etc. Are they stored in sealed packages, to be provably OK? I think they just get inspected or overhauled at some specific frequency.
And in any operation where life jackets are mandatory, you would have defined inspection or overhaul intervals.
So maybe this Danish practice is to avoid the cost of inspection or overhaul, but you end up with an unusable life jacket.
I find it strange to stuff life-vests and not wear them. Only by wearing them do they make any sense.
1300 hours total of which 1100 over the Mediterranean in a C172.That obliged me to:
AeroPlus wrote:
Only by wearing them do they make any sense.
I cannot imagine, that a live vest, which I can get hold off after ditching doesn’t make ANY sense. If I ditch, the aircraft will probably not sink within a very short time (I know of some floating for hours). Why not put on the vest after ditching, although I do not doubt, that it is safer to put them on prior to take off.
I’m wearing a parachute – should I leave it at home when flying (a short distance above gliding range) over water? At least the parachutes do not make any sense when you can only get hold of them during flight without wearing them 
Peter wrote:
That is a strange regulation because if you take the more normal GA life jacket and it has not been unpacked, why would there be a presumption that it is not airworthy?
Nope, it is because regulators have for a long time imposed regulations that make sense for airliners on light aircraft. A tightly packed life vest that gets taken out a few minutes before the splashdown makes sense there, and certification is important because the bean-counter who buys it is not in the aircraft when it is needed, so would probably do away with it if he could (seat cushions serving as floating device? really???).
Hence we end up paying twice – once for the mandatory equipment, and then again for the stuff that does the job. Other examples include fixed ELT vs. PLBs, or certified junk from the seventies vs. modern devices.
I cannot imagine, that a live vest, which I can get hold off after ditching doesn’t make ANY sense.
When I started flying I was thought to always wear the life jacket if going across water. I always did. One day flying with a friend (also a pilot), familiarity obviously took over…..I was flying a route that I was very familiar with, which involved a short water crossing after about an hours flight. So an hour into the flight, we’re about to do the water crossing part, and I realised that we’d forgotten to put on our life jackets!
So I asked the other pilot to put his on, and then take the controls while I put mine on. This was in a Piper Arrow, so not a cramped cockpit. Plenty of room. It was damn hard! There was a lot of fumbling, turning, stretching, unbuckling of seatbelt to help manouver, pulling and twisting before I finally got it on.
That thought me that the idea of putting it on after an engine failure isn’t a clever one. I have much better things to be doing after an engine failure than trying to wressle with the life jacket.
The idea of putting it on after ditching is a new one on me! They say that you don’t make it out of the aircraft after ditching with anything that you’re not wearing. I can well imagine that even if you have the time, there is a (well justified) panic to get out. The aircraft may sink very quickly. There is probably water coming in from plenty of places and the danger of not being able open the door if it gets submerged must be real. If there is anyone waiting on you to exit before they can (eg back seat passengers, or anyone in a PA28 who isn’t in the front passenger seat!) then I think you have a moral responsibility to exit as soon as possible. The idea that you’d voluntarily stay in the aircraft while you try to turn, twist and generally struggle to put on a life jacket in a tight space that is filling with cold water doesn’t seem very likely to me.
Much more likely is that you’d exit the aircraft with the life jacket in hand intending to put it on once in the water or in the raft, and then you drop it once you hit the water (cold shock).
I suppose at lot of pilots have never worn a life jacket or don’t wear one very often. If you live in central Europe, you have to travel a long way before you have a lengthy water crossing.
I’d suggest that anyone that hasn’t tried it, that on their next flight (where there is a second pilot capable of controlling the aircraft for them) they try to put on a life jacket while in flight. Then ask yourself if you’d want to do that after an engine failure while trying to set up the glidge/do mayday call with good position report/secure loose items in the cabin and prepare for the ditching! Or indeed if you’d be happy to do it after the ditching.
I think the exercise will convince you to wear it before takeoff. It certainly did for me!
For many of my flights, I’ve a water crossing within a few minutes after take off, which lasts for about 20 minutes. After that I don’t need the life jacket anymore and could easily take it off. But the funny thing about it is that while it might seem a little uncomfortable when you put it on, after 5 minutes, you don’t notice it anymore. I almost never bother to take it off until I land, even if I I’m done with the sea crossing part in the early part of the flight. I just don’t notice the jacket anymore and don’t see any need to take it off. It’s not really any hassle and not something that really should be avoided.
If I’m PIC flying cross water, everyone on board will be wearing a jacket before departure. They can remove once we’ve completed the water crossing part if they wish, but I’ve yet to see anyone bother.
Colm
Thanks for that explaination @dublinpilot . Probably you are right that the vest somewhere in the cabin is kind of placebo. Still I rather choose my parachute and land close to a vessel in case the engine quits
I also have to say, that I only fly the shortest possible distances over water, like Calais-Dover, Sonderborg-Odense-Helsingborg etc., which is almost always in gliding distance from the shore plus I fly as high as possible.
I always have them on with a water crossing. You have comfortable ones and not comfortable ones. Just make sure you have the right type and wearing them is not an issue.
