FAR 91.1083 — Crewmember Emergency Training
FAR 91.1083 sets crewmember emergency training requirements for fractional ownership ops: drills, equipment use, decompression, ditching, and high-altitude physiology.
In Plain English
FAR 91.1083 establishes the emergency training requirements for crewmembers operating under a fractional ownership program. The training must be tailored to each aircraft type, model, and configuration, each crewmember role, and each kind of operation flown.
The program must cover:
- Emergency assignments and procedures, including crew coordination.
- Individual instruction on emergency equipment: ditching/evacuation gear, first aid kits, and portable fire extinguishers (with emphasis on matching extinguisher type to fire class).
- Handling specific emergencies: rapid decompression, in-flight or surface fire and smoke control (including electrical equipment and circuit breakers), ditching and evacuation, passenger/crew illness or injury, and hijacking or other unusual situations.
- Review of past accidents and incidents involving real emergencies.
Crewmembers must also actually perform drills (not just watch) for ditching, evacuation, fire extinguishing, emergency exits and slides, oxygen use, life raft deployment, and donning life vests — unless the Administrator approves demonstration only. Crews flying above 25,000 feet receive additional physiology training on respiration, hypoxia, time of useful consciousness, gas expansion, gas bubble formation, and decompression phenomena. This matters because in a real emergency, muscle memory and equipment familiarity save lives.
Regulation Text
14 CFR § 91.1083§ 91.1083 Crewmember emergency training.
(a) Each training program must provide emergency training under this section for each aircraft type, model, and configuration, each crewmember, and each kind of operation conducted, as appropriate for each crewmember and the program manager.
(b) Emergency training must provide the following:
(1) Instruction in emergency assignments and procedures, including coordination among crewmembers.
(2) Individual instruction in the location, function, and operation of emergency equipment including—
(i) Equipment used in ditching and evacuation;
(ii) First aid equipment and its proper use; and
(iii) Portable fire extinguishers, with emphasis on the type of extinguisher to be used on different classes of fires.
(3) Instruction in the handling of emergency situations including—
(i) Rapid decompression;
(ii) Fire in flight or on the surface and smoke control procedures with emphasis on electrical equipment and related circuit breakers found in cabin areas;
(iii) Ditching and evacuation;
(iv) Illness, injury, or other abnormal situations involving passengers or crewmembers; and
(v) Hijacking and other unusual situations.
(4) Review and discussion of previous aircraft accidents and incidents involving actual emergency situations.
(c) Each crewmember must perform at least the following emergency drills, using the proper emergency equipment and procedures, unless the Administrator finds that, for a particular drill, the crewmember can be adequately trained by demonstration:
(1) Ditching, if applicable.
(2) Emergency evacuation.
(3) Fire extinguishing and smoke control.
(4) Operation and use of emergency exits, including deployment and use of evacuation slides, if applicable.
(5) Use of crew and passenger oxygen.
(6) Removal of life rafts from the aircraft, inflation of the life rafts, use of lifelines, and boarding of passengers and crew, if applicable.
(7) Donning and inflation of life vests and the use of other individual flotation devices, if applicable.
(d) Crewmembers who serve in operations above 25,000 feet must receive instruction in the following:
(1) Respiration.
(2) Hypoxia.
(3) Duration of consciousness without supplemental oxygen at altitude.
(4) Gas expansion.
(5) Gas bubble formation.
(6) Physical phenomena and incidents of decompression.
Oral Exam Questions a DPE Might Ask
Q1Under FAR 91.1083, what specific emergency drills must each crewmember actually perform during training?
Per FAR 91.1083(c), crewmembers must perform drills in ditching (if applicable), emergency evacuation, fire extinguishing and smoke control, operation of emergency exits and slides, use of crew and passenger oxygen, life raft removal and boarding, and donning and inflating life vests — unless the Administrator allows demonstration for a particular drill.
Q2What additional emergency training is required for crewmembers operating above 25,000 feet?
FAR 91.1083(d) requires instruction in respiration, hypoxia, duration of consciousness without supplemental oxygen at altitude, gas expansion, gas bubble formation, and the physical phenomena and incidents of decompression.
Q3What types of emergency situations must the training program cover for handling instruction?
Under FAR 91.1083(b)(3), training must cover rapid decompression; fire in flight or on the surface and smoke control (with emphasis on electrical equipment and circuit breakers in cabin areas); ditching and evacuation; illness, injury, or other abnormal passenger/crew situations; and hijacking or other unusual situations.
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Related Sections in Part 91