Emergency Equipment and Survival Gear

• Identify appropriate equipment and personal gear for the airplane and the environment you will fly through (S1)
• Brief passengers on the proper use of on-board emergency equipment and survival gear (S2)
• Simulate ballistic parachute deployment procedures, if equipped (S3)

This is an oral-and-demonstration task with no flight tolerances, and it is where the examiner probes whether you think like a commercial operator — someone responsible for other people's survival, not just your own (FAA-S-ACS-7B, Task IX.D).

An ELT is required by 91.207 and must be inspected within 12 calendar months after the last inspection for (PHAK ch. 9):

• Proper installation
• Battery corrosion
• Operation of the controls and crash sensor
• Presence of a sufficient signal radiated from its antenna

Batteries must be replaced (or recharged, if rechargeable) when the transmitter has been in use for more than 1 cumulative hour, or when 50 percent of the battery's useful life (or of the charge's useful life, for rechargeables) has expired. Fixed and deployable automatic transmitters must be mounted as far aft as practicable to minimize crash damage.

Cospas-Sarsat terminated satellite monitoring and reception of 121.5 MHz and 243.0 MHz on February 1, 2009 (AIM 6-2-4). An airplane carrying only an analog ELT now depends on a nearby ATC facility or an overflying aircraft happening to hear it.

The 406 MHz ELT is a digital transmitter encoded with the owner's contact information or aircraft data; the latest models also encode position data. It transmits a stronger signal, and includes a low-power 121.5 MHz homing transmitter for the terminal search phase. Because the beacon is registered, an RCC can telephone the owner to verify status — so SAR can respond in minutes to a 406 alert versus potentially hours for a 121.5 alert, which normally waits for confirmation of an overdue aircraft.

The FCC requires 406 MHz ELTs to be registered with NOAA, and the FAA's TSO-C126 requires it as well. NOAA maintains the owner registration database for U.S. 406 MHz alerting devices and operates the U.S. portion of the Cospas-Sarsat system; NOAA passes alert data to the appropriate U.S. Air Force or U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center (AIM 6-2-4).

If you fly airplanes you do not own — which is most of commercial flying — the AIM's advice is direct: check the ELT installed in the airplane you are flying and, as appropriate, carry your own 406 MHz personal locator beacon.

• Analog 121.5/243.0 MHz units: test only during the first 5 minutes after any hour. Outside that window, coordinate with the nearest FAA control tower. Tests should be no longer than three audible sweeps, and if the antenna is removable, substitute a dummy load
• Digital 406 MHz units: test only in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions (AIM 6-2-4)

Inadvertent activations are common — from aerobatics, hard landings, ground handling, and maintenance. Monitor 121.5 to catch your own, and monitor it in flight to help catch someone else's. Report the time you first and last heard the signal, your position and altitude, and, with homing equipment, the bearing with each reported position.

Halocarbon clean agents — the FAA-approved replacements for Halon 1211 and Halon 1301 (AC 20-42D). The AC recommends transitioning to them, and specifically recommends that dry chemical, dry powder, and carbon dioxide hand extinguishers "in general, should not be used in aircraft."

Ratings: small airplanes may use an extinguisher with a minimum U.S. UL 2B:C rating or equivalent for compartment volumes up to 200 cubic feet; large aircraft require a minimum UL 5B:C or equivalent.

Toxicity: the AC acknowledges that decomposition products are a concern and should factor into extinguisher selection, but states plainly that "the toxicity hazard is a secondary concern to an unextinguished in-flight fire." Discharge it, then ventilate — and in a cabin fire, use the extinguisher before opening the cabin air to purge smoke (AFH ch. 18).

The ACS sets the planning horizon at 48 to 72 hours of water, clothing, and shelter (CA.IX.D.R1). Build to that number rather than to a vague sense of "some stuff in the baggage compartment," and tie it to the route: the PHAK's PAVE environment questions ask directly whether, over remote areas, there is "appropriate clothing, water, and survival gear onboard in the event of a forced landing" (PHAK ch. 2).

The corollary the examiner is listening for: gear that is in the aft baggage compartment of a burning or sinking airplane is not survival gear. Stow what you truly need where you can reach it belted in.

If the aircraft is operated for hire over water and beyond power-off gliding distance from shore, you need approved flotation gear readily available to each occupant and — outside part 121 — at least one pyrotechnic signaling device (91.205(b)(12)).

That "for hire" trigger is the commercial delta: as a private pilot the rule rarely touched you, and as a commercial pilot it routinely will. "Shore" means the land adjacent to the water above the high water mark, excluding land areas that are intermittently under water.

Reason from the killer in each environment against the 48–72 hour horizon (CA.IX.D.R1; PHAK ch. 2):

• Hot / desert (K3a). Dehydration is the clock. Water dominates the load, plus shade material and sun protection — an airplane's aluminum skin is not shelter at midday
• Cold (K3a). Insulation and fire. Layers, a sleeping bag or bivvy, and reliable fire-starting; the airplane is your shelter and your best visual target, so stay with it
• Mountainous (K3b). Warm gear even in summer — temperature falls with altitude — and signaling that works when terrain shadows you from line-of-sight reception. Consider higher personal ceiling and visibility minimums over unfamiliar mountain terrain
• Overwater (K3c). Flotation for each occupant, a raft where the exposure warrants, and a 406 MHz beacon. If ditching, "make every effort to ditch near a surface vessel" (AIM 6-3-2)

Dress for the terrain you will overfly, not the cabin temperature.

Use the PHAK's SAFETY list as the spine and then add the survival-specific items (PHAK ch. 2).

Add the ELT location and manual activation, and — if installed — the ballistic parachute handle and the auto-land button, with the conditions for using each.

Because the moment you need it is inside a sterile period or an emergency, and neither leaves room to teach. The sterile flight deck itself is covered under Task II.B; what matters for this Task is the sequencing consequence:

• A passenger who first hears about the raft, ELT, or exit while you are troubleshooting will ask questions at the worst possible moment
• Emergency equipment briefed on the ground can be pointed to in flight in one sentence — "vest is under your seat, pull the tab" — which is all the time an actual event gives you
• The SAFETY briefing above is what makes that one sentence intelligible

So the professional standard is: locations and operation before engine start, and in flight only the short pointer. If you find yourself explaining how a device works after the emergency has begun, the briefing failed.

Deployment results in the loss of the airframe — that is the honest framing — but "deploying such systems within an acceptable flight regime prevents injuries and saves lives" (AFH ch. 18). Qualifying conditions the AFH names:

• Catastrophic loss of controllability from a collision or mechanical failure
• Actual loss of control
• Pilot incapacitation

Know and follow the manufacturer's procedures for arming and disarming the system before and after flight, and study the manufacturer's guidance for the specific installation — the deployment envelope is airplane-specific.

Brief passengers who have access to the handle: generally a passenger deploys the system only if the pilot is incapacitated, and at minimum they should know the basic sequence of steps. Also brief the post-landing hazards — a deployed canopy plus surface wind is dangerous, so occupants need the evacuation procedure too.

If the EAL senses erratic flying it stabilizes the airplane and checks for pilot responsiveness; absent input, it initiates an emergency descent, and absent responsiveness after that, an automated landing. It can also be activated manually by the pilot or a passenger (AFH ch. 18).

Once activated it:

• Broadcasts automated messages on the last selected frequency and on 121.5, in a synthesized voice, announcing call sign and intended airport and runway
• Sets the transponder to 7700
• Pauses 25 seconds after the initial broadcast so ATC can move conflicting traffic
• Within 12 miles of the selected runway and at or below 12,000 feet MSL, broadcasts on tower frequency or CTAF and continues to transmit position via ADS-B, with a one-minute-out call before landing

It selects an airport by weather, wind, runway length, and towered status, considers only airports with an RNAV or GPS approach, prefers towered fields, and uses terrain and obstacle databases. If it loses GPS coverage it continues straight ahead without attempting to land until coverage resumes.

What it does not do: detect and avoid other aircraft; receive or react to ATC instructions or NOTAMs; avoid MOAs, SUA, restricted areas, or TFRs; or turn on the aircraft lights. Those gaps are the risk-management answer to R3.

Pick the cross-country the examiner assigned you and walk the route out loud: which segments are beyond gliding distance of a landable surface, what the terrain and forecast temperatures are underneath, how long a ground team would realistically take to reach you there, and what in the airplane covers 48 to 72 hours for the number of souls on board (CA.IX.D.R1).

Then close the loop with the equipment inventory: ELT type and last inspection date (12 calendar months, 91.207), extinguisher type, rating, and gauge condition (AC 20-42D), flotation if the leg is for hire and beyond gliding distance from shore (91.205(b)(12)), and where each item is stowed relative to a belted occupant. That answer is the whole task.