7.3 Raft Drill

7.3.1 Equipment Criteria (Wet or Dry)

1. The raft drill shall be conducted using life saving equipment that is identical to that which is installed on each aircraft type with respect to weight, dimensions, appearance, features and operation.
2. Rafts may be substituted provided there are no substantive differences with respect to weight, dimensions, appearance, features, and operation and training for the differences has been provided.

7.3.2 Performance Criteria

1. Each crew member shall participate in a raft drill once every third annual training year and perform the following:
    
   1. Access the raft compartment and experience the difficulty associated with moving the weight of a packaged life raft within a space representative of the aircraft aisle;
   2. Examine all features of a fully inflated raft;
   3. Board raft(s), assist persons into raft;
   4. Access the inflation lanyard;
   5. Access the raft release mechanism while verbally describing the procedure to release the raft from the aircraft; and
   6. Examine the raft survival kit and review the operation of all components.
       
2. Participate as a crew member or a passenger in the following:
    
   1. Launching, inflating, and disconnecting raft(s), either actual or by video;
   2. Righting overturned rafts, either actual or by video;
   3. Effective raft management (e.g. distribution of passengers, deploying sea anchor, etc.);
   4. Erecting the raft canopy;
   5. Distribution of duties to passengers;
   6. Discuss the hazards associated with moving a packaged life raft through the cabin to an exit (e.g. inadvertent inflation, passenger movement and panic); and
   7. Water survival principles; a review of the operations of survival kit components including raft maintenance.