SPECIAL FEATURE
What safety kit do you need for a transatlantic flight?
18 July 2023
What survival kit should you take when making a potentially perilous flight, say, across the north Atlantic via Greenland to the USA?
James Hortop, businessman, pilot and owner of Farway Common airfield, has just made that very ferry flight in his own Navion Rangemaster H and recently posted about the safety equipment he’s carrying.
James wrote, “It’s just starting to sink in quite what a big deal flying a small plane across the pond is. The type and selection of safety equipment is so very important – especially as on this route I needed everything to survive maritime, polar and wild Canada.
“Perhaps one of the most important things is the survival suit. Heather from Viking Life-Saving Equipment kindly gave me a suit for the journey and I cannot thank her enough nor praise the suit. I was in that thing for hours and its breathable fabric stopped me descending into a sweaty mess! In the event of ditching the suit would help prevent cold water shock initially and hypothermia once in the raft.
“I decided not to use my aviation life raft. I tried the same model out in the pool at the RNLI once… It was flimsy and while OK for the English Channel the prospect of overnighting in it with the icebergs didn’t appeal. It also has a single skin floor – not good to be sat on when sea temperature is -1 degrees.
“So I took with me an 8 person marine raft – with three tubes, a canopy, stabilisation pockets and an insulated floor.
