Outdoors-Magazine.com -- NOAA Aviation Life Support Equipment Program

NOAA Aviation Life Support Equipment Program

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for its workforce, and for partners who are exposed to the risks associated with flying on aircraft owned or operated by NOAA. Aviation safety is the number one priority for all aviation operations. The NOAA Aviation Life Support Equipment (ALSE) Program’s primary mission is to provide personnel with ALSE that protects crewmembers and others aboard an aircraft, or assists in their safe escape, survival, and recovery during an accident or other emergency. The goal of the program is to procure, distribute, maintain, integrate, and standardize all of NOAA’s ALSE.

NOAA sponsored personnel flying Mission Operations over water beyond glide distance to land on any NOAA or non-NOAA aircraft (contracted, chartered, leased, rented, or provided by other entities) are required to be issued or have access to a flotation vest with a personal locator beacon, and each aircraft must carry a life raft of sufficient capacity for all aircraft occupants.

Mission Operations is defined as all operations other than transportation. Mission operations include, but are not limited to: aerial surveys, airborne data collection, forecaster training, and aerial photography. Mission Operations include transportation of personnel where an aircraft departs from or lands at a location other than a published airport. Accordingly, transportation of personnel on aircraft that either depart from or land on a ship, oil rig, open field, beach, ice, or open water is considered mission operations.

AVIATION LIFE SUPPORT EQUIPMENT

ALSE will be provided to personnel flying on board NOAA aircraft as standard equipment. ALSE meeting the specifications of the following equipment will be issued for use on non-NOAA aircraft contracted, chartered, leased, rented, or provided by other entities for NOAA personnel conducting official business.

Personal Flotation Vest (annual inspection required) .

3-layer NOMEX cover with neck gusset for chafe protection
FAA/TSO approved
Fully adjustable sizing 42 in.-68 in.
Pockets to hold personal locator transmitter (approx 5”x3”x1.75”), knife, whistle, signal mirror, signal streamer, and strobe
38 lbs of buoyancy provided by two independent cells
Inflation by two 18-gram CO2 cartridges or oral inflation tubes
Water-activated TSO locator light
Signal mirror, whistle, and knife with can opener. .

Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) (inside flotation vest pocket) .

Built in GPS, 406 MHz transmitter and 121.5 homing frequency
Alert time to Rescue Services within 3 minutes
Operates for 24 hours w/positional updates every 20 min.
Global alert via COSPAS SARSAT satellites
Easy to operate, compact, and fits in flotation vest pocket
Positional accuracy to 30 meters

rescue strobe light

Rescue Strobe Light (inside flotation vest pocket) .

8-hour minimum continuous operating life
Waterproof to 10 m (33 ft.)
Visible up to 2 miles (5 km) 1.5v lithium battery (5 year replacement life) .

signal mirror

signal mirror instructions

Signal Mirror (inside flotation vest pocket)

2 in. by 3 in. size, Ľ in. laminated glass that is shatter resistant, center-viewing hole and sight targeting retro reflective grid. In normal sunlight, the flash from a good Signal Mirror can easily be seen for 10 miles and generally the flash will be visible up to 50 miles, depending upon atmospheric conditions. The record rescue from one is 105 miles at sea. Direct up to 6 million candlepower of reflected sunlight onto the rescue target with pinpoint accuracy. A mirror will even work on bright overcast days and with moonlight, though with much reduced range. (Signal mirror will be inside the flotation vest stowage pocket.)