Jazz Airline Removes Life Vests To Save Weight, Fuel

Clusterstock, AP:

An official with Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz says the airline is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel.

Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said Thursday that Transport Canada regulations allow airlines to use flotation devices instead of life vests, provided the planes remain within 50 miles of shore.

Stuart says Jazz is a transcontinental carrier that doesn't fly over the ocean.

Read the whole story: Clusterstock, AP

Comments

[Rockwell]

11:52 PM on 09/04/2008

No problem here. If my plane's going down, I doubt I'll have need to a flotation device.

[JBS]

02:17 PM on 09/04/2008

The comments in the original are priceless.

Air Canada is going to restructure itself to "balance the books" with a shift in focus from losing passenger's baggage to losing the passengers themselves.

Passengers will:

"also be able to purchase and carry-on-board snacks, water, toilet paper, and extra aviation fuel sold in clear zip-lok bags. Inside the free in-flight magazine, passengers will find free of charge 2 party balloons and a section entitled "Balloons, a fun way to floating""

He he he!

[the noisy one]

10:23 AM on 09/04/2008

This is a complete non-story. Publishing it may seem like a coup, a scoop, a "gotcha," but in reality doing so just reveals the ignorance of the publisher.

Most regional airlines (I've flown for two and traveled on many others) do not carry life jackets. The seat cushions are removable, and float. If for some bizarre reason you end up in the drink (and survive THAT process) you take the cushion with you and put your arms through the straps under it, hug it, and float for the short time it takes to a) be rescued, b) succumb to hypothermia, c) succumb to your injuries, or d) feed the sharks. The airplane will have a few lifevests on board - for the crew, small kids, and whomever else does not have the ability to use their seat cushion. Everyone on board does have some kind of flotation device available to them.

Now you know. I'll not be holding my breath waiting for an apology to Jazz for slurring them with this non-story, but one is probably due.

[darthdarcy]

11:50 AM on 09/03/2008

50 miles oh sure I can swim 50 miles...

:- o

[KillTheMessenger]

01:00 PM on 09/03/2008

The truth is that if a plane goes down over water, the chances of survival are basically zero. The life vest/flotation device is a feelgood measure. In reality it makes no difference at all.

[darthdarcy]

01:16 PM on 09/03/2008

Really I had no idea..?

Jeeze Louise..

[MajorKong]

02:55 PM on 09/03/2008

Not quite true. I know of at least two occasions where heavy jets have been successfully ditched. I wouldn't want to do it but it is possible.

We train for it in the air freight business and we don't have any passengers that we're trying to make feel good.

[MajorKong]

08:51 PM on 09/03/2008

Even if they lost both engines (extremely unlikely) they could glide further than that.

We use something called the "3 to 1 rule" in aviation. A jet airliner at zero thrust travels roughly 3 miles for every thousand feet of altitude it loses. From normal airliner cruise altitude they could glide 75-100 miles.

[Tom95134]

11:03 AM on 09/03/2008

So what? Many U.S. flights do not carry life vests. They depend on a "flotation device", i.e. the seat cushion.

[KCFreedom]

09:22 AM on 09/03/2008

Must be OK, because we all know Canada has no bodies of water anywhere....