Sec. 121.309 - Emergency equipment.

(a) General: No person may operate an airplane unless it is equipped with the emergency equipment listed in this section and in §121.310.

(b) Each item of emergency and flotation equipment listed in this section and in §§121.310, 121.339, and 121.340 --

(1) Must be inspected regularly in accordance with inspection periods established in the operations specifications to ensure its condition for continued serviceability and immediate readiness to perform its intended emergency purposes;

(2) Must be readily accessible to the crew and, with regard to equipment located in the passenger compartment, to passengers;

(3) Must be clearly identified and clearly marked to indicate its method of operation; and

(4) When carried in a compartment or container, must be carried in a compartment or container marked as to contents and the compartment or container, or the item itself, must be marked as to date of last inspection.

(c) Hand fire extinguishers for crew, passenger, cargo, and galley compartments. Hand fire extinguishers of an approved type must be provided for use in crew, passenger, cargo, and galley compartments in accordance with the following:

(1) The type and quantity of extinguishing agent must be suitable for the kinds of fires likely to occur in the compartment where the extinguisher is intended to be used and, for passenger compartments, must be designed to minimize the hazard of toxic gas concentrations.

(2) Cargo compartments. At least one hand fire extinguisher must be conveniently located for use in each class E cargo compartment that is accessible to crewmembers during flight.

(3) Galley compartments. At least one hand fire extinguisher must be conveniently located for use in each galley located in a compartment other than a passenger, cargo, or crew compartment.

(4) Flightcrew compartment. At least one hand fire extinguisher must be conveniently located on the flight deck for use by the flightcrew.

(5) Passenger compartments. Hand fire extinguishers for use in passenger compartments must be conveniently located and, when two or more are required, uniformly distributed throughout each compartment. Hand fire extinguishers shall be provided in passenger compartments as follows:

(i) For airplanes having passenger seats accommodating more than 6 but fewer than 31 passengers, at least one.

(ii) For airplanes having passenger seats accommodating more than 30 but fewer than 61 passengers, at least two.

(iii) For airplanes having passenger seats accommodating more than 60 passengers, there must be at least the following number of hand fire extinguishers: 

                Minimum Number of Hand Fire Extinguishers
Passenger seating
 accommodations:
  61 through 200.  3
  201 through 300  4
  301 through 400  5
  401 through 500  6
  501 through 600  7
  601 or more....  8

(6) Notwithstanding the requirement for uniform distribution of hand fire extinguishers as prescribed in paragraph (c)(5) of this section, for those cases where a galley is located in a passenger compartment, at least one hand fire extinguisher must be conveniently located and easily accessible for use in the galley.

(7) At least two of the required hand fire extinguisher installed in passenger-carrying airplanes must contain Halon 1211 (bromochlorofluoromethane) or equivalent as the extinguishing agent. At least one hand fire extinguisher in the passenger compartment must contain Halon 1211 or equivalent.

(d) First aid and emergency medical equipment and protective gloves. (1) For treatment of injuries or medical emergencies that might occur during flight time or in minor accidents each passenger-carrying airplane must have the following equipment that meets the specifications and requirements of appendix A of this part:

(i) Approved first aid kits; and

(ii) In airplanes for which a flight attendant is required, an emergency medical kit.

(2) Pairs of protective latex gloves, or equivalent nonpermeable gloves, equal in number to the number of first aid kits on board the aircraft. These gloves must be distributed as evenly as practicable throughout the cabin of the aircraft.

(e) Crash ax. Except for nontransport category airplanes type certificated after December 31, 1964, each airplane must be equipped with a crash ax.

(f) Megaphones. Each passenger-carrying airplane must have a portable battery-powered megaphone or megaphones readily accessible to the crewmembers assigned to direct emergency evacuation, installed as follows:

(1) One megaphone on each airplane with a seating capacity of more than 60 and less than 100 passengers, at the most rearward location in the passenger cabin where it would be readily accessible to a normal flight attendant seat. However, the Administrator may grant a deviation from the requirements of this subparagraph if he finds that a different location would be more useful for evacuation of persons during an emergency.

(2) Two megaphones in the passenger cabin on each airplane with a seating capacity of more than 99 passengers, one installed at the forward end and the other at the most rearward location where it would be readily accessible to a normal flight attendant seat.

[Doc. No. 6258, 29 FR 19205, Dec. 31, 1964, as amended by Amdt. 121-30, 32 FR 13267, Sept. 20, 1967; Amdt. 121-48, 34 FR 11489, July 11, 1969; Amdt. 121-106, 38 FR 22377, Aug. 20, 1973; Amdt. 121-185, 50 FR 12733, Mar. 29, 1985; 50 FR 14373, Apr. 12, 1985; Amdt. 121-188, 51 FR 1223, Jan. 9, 1986; Amdt. 121-230, 57 FR 42672, Sept. 15, 1992; Amdt. 121-242, 59 FR 52642, Oct. 18, 1994; 59 FR 55208, Nov. 4, 1994; Amdt. 121-251, 60 FR 65930, Dec. 20, 1995]