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what about a swamp?

Old 05-06-2007, 09:18 PM
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Default what about a swamp?

Do the Florida Everglades, or any swamp land for that matter, count as a body of water in which flotation devices are needed if flying further from gliding distance to the shore?
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Old 05-07-2007, 04:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Zwibby View Post
Do the Florida Everglades, or any swamp land for that matter, count as a body of water in which flotation devices are needed if flying further from gliding distance to the shore?

To my knowledge, there is no requirement for a light aircraft to carry flotation devices. (Please correct me if I'm wrong... it's been a while since I've flown a 172). Is it prudent? Heck yeah.

What I can find is the following reg, which applies to large and turbine powered multiengine aircraft:

§ 91.509 Survival equipment for overwater operations.
(a) No person may take off an airplane for a flight over water more than 50 nautical miles from the nearest shore unless that airplane is equipped with a life preserver or an approved flotation means for each occupant of the airplane.
Seeing that in the everglades and other swampy areas, you're almost certainly going to be within 50 miles of some sort of suitable landing site (highway/airport/beach/etc), I'd say no.

If I was flying a light aircraft over the everglades, I'd be more concerned about carrying the appropriate post crash survival gear (such as an Personal Locator Beacon), than a life raft. Odds are that if you go down in a swamp, it's not going to be very deep and "ditching" efforts are going to be a combination of an actual ditching and an off airport landing onto uneven ground due to the dense vegetation that you'd find in such a location...

My personal recommendation when flying a single piston over such locales? Stay within gliding distance of a major highway or other suitable road. That way if you have any trouble, you know that help is there right away. It might add some time/cost to your trip, but if you go down into the swamp, it could be hours or even days before somebody finds you.
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