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Cannes -> Corsica -> Tuscany trip (and ditching, life rafts, etc)

I am planning a trip to Corsica with my Jodel D11 this year, with the following rough route:

LFMD (Cannes) → perhaps LFKO (Propriano) → LFKC (Calvi) → LIRJ (Elba) → LIQG (Cecina)

I understand that I need …

  • … life vests only, but no raft.
  • … an artificial horizon. Will an AHRS suffice (I have an iLevil G Mini in my aircraft)?

Also, can I expect my wood-and-fabric Jodel to stay afloat in the unlikely case of a water landing?

Last Edited by Zorg at 21 Jan 12:52
LFHN, LSGP, LFHM

Note that the limit for needing a life raft is not 60 nmi, but “30 minutes at normal cruising speed or 50 NM, whichever is the lesser”.

ELLX

I’ve been to Propriano a couple of times for stress-free long weekends on the beach. You can’t camp under the wing, but they did allow tents outside the airfield gate; there are more girls at the local campsite though Calvi was anti-GA. We used Carpentras for the pre-crossing fuel stop because Cannes is reportedly expensive.

I’d recommend a PLB – it’ll make finding you a lot easier. There was a C210 that crashed Propriano-Cannes: being retractable the water landing was good, but being metal the airframe soon sank. A wooden airframe should float, but then the Avgas-filled tanks should have floated… Even with a mayday and following the 7700 squawk they spent 6 hours in the sea before being rescued, hence the PLB.

In the summer the horizon disappears, especially higher up. Some kind of artificial reference would be good.

EGHO-LFQF-KCLW, United Kingdom

lionel wrote:

Note that the limit for needing a life raft is not 60 nmi, but “30 minutes at normal cruising speed or 50 NM, whichever is the lesser”.

I don’t think that is true anymore.

LFHN - Bellegarde - Vouvray France

LFHNflightstudent wrote:

I don’t think that is true anymore.

I do think it is.

And since the distance between Cannes and Calvi is just a hair under 100 NM you are legally good to go without a raft (IF you can do 120 knots GS.. unlikely in a Jodel). Whether it makes sense to do this distance without a raft is a different story.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 21 Jan 14:47
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

@Capitaine

Great information, just what I was looking for!

I assume you flew under VFR flight plan and on the VFR routes? How high did ATC let you fly?

LFHN, LSGP, LFHM

can I expect my wood-and-fabric Jodel to stay afloat in the unlikely case of a water landing?

If you unscrew the engine on the way down and throw everybody out at touchdown, yes

It’s not hard to work out if it would float with empty fuel tanks. Take the loaded weight and subtract 1kg for every litre fuel tank capacity. I am sure it won’t float.

The amount of wood in a wooden plane is miniscule, and anyway you would get only the buyoancy factor of wood.

If the hull cavities were foam filled that would be very different.

Previous discussion

It makes no sense to fly out of glide range anywhere without a raft, because life jackets will just enable the corpse to float. Especially in these southern european areas, where nobody will get to you really fast.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Can anyone point to the document/paragraph describing the raft requirements?

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

And since the distance between Cannes and Calvi is just a hair under 100 NM you are legally good to go without a raft (IF you can do 120 knots GS.. unlikely in a Jodel). Whether it makes sense to do this distance without a raft is a different story.

If I read EASA Part-NCO, I get the impression that carriage of a raft is in the discretion of the PIC.

NCO.IDE.A.175 3 (c):

The pilot-in-command of an aeroplane operated at a distance away from land where an emergency landing is possible greater than that corresponding to 30 minutes at normal cruising speed or 50 NM, whichever is the lesser, shall determine the risks to survival of the occupants of the aeroplane in the event of a ditching, based on which he/she shall determine the carriage of:
(1) equipment for making the distress signals;
(2) life-rafts in sufficient numbers to carry all persons on board, stowed so as to facilitate their ready use in emergency; and
(3) life-saving equipment, to provide the means of sustaining life, as appropriate to the flight to be undertaken.

Am I missing something?

Obviously I agree that a raft would make a lot of sense for my planned route, but I’m not sure whether I could fit one in my Jodel …

LFHN, LSGP, LFHM

Vladimir wrote:

Can anyone point to the document/paragraph describing the raft requirements?

OK, not requirement, but the law suggests. Air OPS regulation as of 01/01/2019, NCO.IDE.A.175.(c):

The pilot-in-command of an aeroplane operated at a distance away from land where an emergency landing is possible greater than that corresponding to 30 minutes at normal cruising speed or 50 NM, whichever is the lesser, shall determine the risks to survival of the occupants of the aeroplane in the event of a ditching, based on which he/she shall determine the carriage of:

(1) equipment for making the distress signals;

(2) life-rafts in sufficient numbers to carry all persons on board, stowed so as to facilitate their ready use in emergency; and

(3) life-saving equipment, to provide the means of sustaining life, as appropriate to the flight to be undertaken.

So, it is a bit like the oxygen above 10 000 feet rule. If you have made the analysis seriously and you determined you don’t need it, then the law doesn’t flat-out force you to. Note that in the required analysis, the probability of ditching is not taken into account. Assume you’ll have to ditch, and look at survival chances

ELLX
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