(a) The launching appliance for a free-fall lifeboat must be designed and installed so that the launching appliance and the lifeboat it serves operate as a system to protect the occupants from harmful acceleration forces and to effectively clear the vessel.

(b) The launching appliance must be designed and arranged so that, in its ready to launch position, the distance from the lowest point on the lifeboat it serves to the water surface with the vessel in its lightest seagoing condition does not exceed the lifeboat's certificated free-fall height.

(c) The launching appliance must be arranged to preclude accidental release of the lifeboat in its unattended stowed position. If the means provided to secure the lifeboat cannot be released from inside the lifeboat, the means to secure the lifeboat must be arranged to preclude boarding the lifeboat without first releasing it.

(d) Each free-fall launching arrangement must be provided with a secondary means to launch the lifeboat by falls. Such means must comply with the requirements of §§ 199.150, 199.153, and 199.155. Notwithstanding § 199.150(c), the secondary launching appliance must be capable of launching the lifeboat against unfavorable conditions of trim of 2 degrees either way and of list of 5 degrees either way. The secondary launching appliance need not comply with the speed requirements of § 199.153 (g), (h), and (i). If the secondary launching appliance is not dependent on gravity, stored mechanical power, or other manual means, the launching arrangement must be connected both to the vessel's main and emergency power supplies.