A friend of mine ditched a Twin Comanche in the Irish sea a few years ago. S&R were already airborne before she hit the water and she was lifted before she could even get in the life raft. (No, it wasn’t fuel exhaustion – they found fuel still in the tanks after dragging it up after 3 months on the bottom, which I found pretty amazing).
I’d be interested in hearing how others deal with the maintenance of their life-rafts .
The main difficulty that I’ve run into is that 99% of the aviation life rafts are US made and it’s extremely difficult (see impossible) to find someone in Europe that knows and deals with these rafts.
Here’s what Survival has to say about periodic servicing:
Service Interval
Service is recommended annually and required by the FAA annually for FAA Approved type rafts. It takes approximately 2-3 weeks regular turnaround time to overhaul a life raft. We can expedite your service work within approximately 2-3 days for an additional 25% of the total service cost.
Click on Summary Price Sheet to view the annual basic service costs.
Service Routine
Inspection consists of removing the raft from the valise, conducting a 24-hour pressure test, weight checking the CO2 inflation system, a cylinder raft pressure test, weight checking the CO2 inflation system cylinder, visually checking the raft and valise for tears, cuts, punctures, abrasions, and deterioration, and then repacking the raft into its valise. Survival Equipment (if included) shall be removed from its valise and inspected by pressure testing the inflatable mast and visually checking each item for condition and life limitation. Cylinder hydrotest is required every 5 years at which time the valve is overhauled and the cylinder then freshly recharged (this cost is approximately an additional $130-$180).
South Eastern Marine Services in the UK do mine but it is a pain in the backside as regards transport. I ship it to them via the post as a regular parcel. They can only ship it back as Dangerous Goods which bumps up the cost. They are close to Southend and in the past have delivered to the GA terminal so it is often easier to fly over to collect it. I have it serviced every two years and from memory it costs around £200
I rent a raft every summer when i fly to the Mediterranean. Cost last year was about € 100 for three weeks, including postage. I always get a new or overhauled raft, and i much prefer that to having to care about that aswell …
Just my 0.5 (euro)cents …
I do the same as Peter (use SEMS) but being in the UK it costs me only about £10-20 for the return delivery.
The raft lives permanently on the rear RHS seat, because in flying there are so many times when one is over water and out of glide range.
Flyer59 wrote:
I rent a raft every summer when i fly to the Mediterranean. Cost last year was about € 100 for three weeks, including postage. I always get a new or overhauled raft, and i much prefer that to having to care about that aswell …
Just my 0.5 (euro)cents …
That is incredible value – these things cost new €2000,00 . If the raft was rented 52 weeks a year at €33,00 it would bring in €1716,00 including tax but 100% rental is impossible. I reckon 25% would be pretty good going.
Peter_Mundy wrote:
That is incredible value – these things cost new €2000,00 . If the raft was rented 52 weeks a year at €33,00 it would bring in €1716,00 including tax but 100% rental is impossible. I reckon 25% would be pretty good going.
Interesting. Me thinks that €2000, outright is a 4 man and €100 rental is a cheapo 2 man, n’est pas ?
€2000,00 is indeed a 4/6 man with roof from Survival Products. I reckon I am very lucky to get 3 weeks rental a year out of mine but maybe the Dutch don´t fly over water.
We use SEMS. I lease the raft rather than own it, once you price in servicing, it’s no more expensive (or only trivially so) to just lease it. The courier arrives with a new one and we put last year’s in the box that the new one arrived in and the courier takes it away, and there’s no waiting around. It gets done while the aircraft is at Spanhoe for her permit renewal.
