(a) No person may operate an airplane unless it has two-way radio communications equipment able, at least in flight, to transmit to, and receive from, ground facilities 25 miles away.

(b) No person may operate an airplane over-the-top unless it has radio navigational equipment able to receive radio signals from the ground facilities to be used.

(c) Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, no person may operate an airplane carrying passengers under IFR or in extended overwater operations unless it has at least the following radio communication and navigational equipment appropriate to the facilities to be used which are capable of transmitting to, and receiving from, at any place on the route to be flown, at least one ground facility:

(1) Two transmitters, (2) two microphones, (3) two headsets or one headset and one speaker (4) a marker beacon receiver, (5) two independent receivers for navigation, and (6) two independent receivers for communications.

(d) For the purposes of paragraphs (c)(5) and (c)(6) of this section, a receiver is independent if the function of any part of it does not depend on the functioning of any part of another receiver. However, a receiver that can receive both communications and navigational signals may be used in place of a separate communications receiver and a separate navigational signal receiver.

(e) Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraph (c) of this section, installation and use of a single long-range navigation system and a single long-range communication system for extended overwater operations in certain geographic areas may be authorized by the Administrator and approved in the certificate holder's operations specifications. The following are among the operational factors the Administrator may consider in granting an authorization:

(1) The ability of the flightcrew to reliably fix the position of the airplane within the degree of accuracy required by ATC,

(2) The length of the route being flown, and

(3) The duration of the very high frequency communications gap.

[Doc. No. 19779, 45 FR 67235, Oct. 9, 1980, as amended by Amdt. 125-25, 61 FR 7191, Feb. 26, 1996]