Welcome back to our Word of the Week!
Every week, we look together at a word that is either interesting, funny or mysterious and that appeals to all of us in the aviation community.
Now, since last week was all about ditching, we thought it would be all appropriate to talk about an accessory that you may find very useful in case of ditching: a dinghy.
dinghy (n.)
UK /ˈdɪŋ.ɡi/ US /ˈdɪŋ.i/
A dinghy is generally accepted to be any small open boat. More particularly, one powered by rowing (= using long poles with flat ends to push through the water), a motor, or sails, used for pleasure or for moving people to or from a ship.
In this case, the word “ship” refers to any vessel that can carry passengers, including an aircraft.
Your aircraft should be equipped with a dinghy, or dinghies, if you intend to fly over open water further than a specified distance from the shoreline.
Dinghies vary in size, and of course you should always have sufficient dinghies to accomodate all the occupants of the aircraft should you go ditching.
(This particular type of dinghy may not be the most practical to carry in an aircraft, but it sure looks fun to sail 🙂 )
