Toddler Lifevest

[Ross Williamson]

New Private Pilot here. I've flown a few times with my little one (she is 2.5) and loves it. We use the car seat attached in the back seat of a C172 and it works great. Now I'm hoping to to get a checkout in the club plane to fly to Catalina. (about 20 miles off shore). Clearly the adults would be wearing a life jacket but it got me thinking about the little one.

We could use a standard life jacket that she would wear at the beach but that would be constantly boyant. However using one that inflates has a risk that the little darling will set it off in the plane.

Just wondering what you all do for young kids and life jackets?

 

[Jeff767]

Personally I would leave her home. There is very little likelihood you would be able to get her out of a car seat in the back in the event of a ditching. The result would be tragic.

 

[SoonerAviator]

I wouldn't worry about it. Just fly at an altitude that you can likely glide to shore to minimize risk (climb to 10K then cross). Otherwise just keep the regular proper-fitting PFD on her, not an inflatable. I might also consider having her out of the car seat during the over-water portion and ensure that the other non-piloting adult is in charge of holding/restraining her in the event of a ditching. It'd be a tough call to leave her in the child's seat, especially trying to get it loosened/released while potentially upside-down.

 

[Jeff767]

No one is going to hold a child through a ditching in a fixed gear aircraft in the ocean. The child needs to be in the car seat. The glide range no wind in a 172 from 10k is about 15 miles.

 

[AA5Bman]

Man... danger must be my middle name, because I never even considered wearing a life jacket to Catalina...

 

[jimhorner]

Man... danger must be my middle name, because I never even considered wearing a life jacket to Catalina...

We always have our life jackets on when making the transit over to Catalina. Seems like good risk management to me. The ones that have a CO2 cylinder to inflate are compact and fairly comfortable.

 

[SoonerAviator]

No one is going to hold a child through a ditching in a fixed gear aircraft in the ocean. The child needs to be in the car seat. The glide range no wind in a 172 from 10k is about 15 miles.

Right, so if you climb to 10K feet you should be able to fly halfway to Catalina (20 miles total overwater) and still be able to glide to the island or turn back and glide to shore, no wind of course. Pretty much negates needing to decide whether or not to keep the child strapped into a car seat.

 

[flyingron]

I have ones for the 3 and 6 year old for the boat and they fit well enough that I wouldn't worry about anything fancier for them in the plane.