Safety/survival gear every pilot should have!

flyingron said:
- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition
- Four days' concentrated emergency rations
- One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine,
vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
- One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
- One hundred dollars in rubles
- One hundred dollars in gold
- Nine packs of chewing gum
- One issue of prophylactics
- Three lipsticks
- Three pair of nylon stockings.
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You forgot the Hershey bars. And as for $100 in gold, that's nothing these days. The 1/10 oz gold coin is smaller than a dime, altho it is worth $156 or so, as per the spot price today.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I attended an FAA WINGS seminar on survival led by a woman who is from Montana and works for the state and teaches outdoor survival skills courses in the winter. She was VERY good and obviously had a lot of experience building fires, shelter, etc.

The first thing she did was ask all of us pilots (mostly middle aged men, about 20 - 40 people total):

"OK how many of you carry ON YOUR PERSON a survival vest or any survival gear of any kind?"

I would say maybe one or two people raised their hands.

She could not stress enough how "a bag in the back of the plane" will be useless if the plane is on fire, you have to run out, etc. and all you have left is what is on your person. She showed us an ugly, bulky fishing vest with tons of pockets that she wears with nearly 30 little survival things in it.

I told my instructor this and he literally laughed it off saying all I need is my cell phone or to knock on someone's door asking to use their phone.

Kimberly
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Sure...Ask Steve Fossett how easy it was for him to knock on somebody's door....

Many airplanes are still missing in the U.S.

Small aircraft are extremely difficult to locate. Especially when they are covered by snow or when they went down in a forest.

ELT's often fail, and the 121.5 MHz frequency is no longer monitored by satellites.

Benjamin Franklin wrote: "In failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail"

You don't need to wear a ton of equipment.

A lightweight mesh survival vest with essential items is enough (PLB, knife, FAK, magnesium bar / Swedish Firesteel, survival sleeping bag, flashlight )

You can stuff all that in your pockets if you wear cargo pants.
 
Does WHERE you fly matter? Survival in Kansas is very different from in Montana and from LA and from Seattle. Most of my flying, if I go down, the guy whose backyard I land in will call 911 before can exit the plane.. Here a life jacket is more important that a fire-starter. Dave
 
Ddayle said:
Does WHERE you fly matter? Survival in Kansas is very different from in Montana and from LA and from Seattle. Most of my flying, if I go down, the guy whose backyard I land in will call 911 before can exit the plane.. Here a life jacket is more important that a fire-starter. Dave
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Definitely matters...

If flying in tropical weather, I'd remove the hand warmers and the fleece gloves from my survival vest...

Would take some Deet and sunscreen instead...and a mosquito net

And now seriously, your survival kit has to be adapted to the local weather conditions - that should be pretty obvious
 
Ddayle said:
If you carry a pistol My opinion is that it need to be something you can actually carry concealed 24/7. Many pistols mentioned are far to heavy & bulky to be carried with ease. My preference is the S&W 442 hammerless light weight 38P+. Small & easy to pack in my pocket, yet enough punch to handle most two legged polecats. For meat hunting you need a long gun, again it should be a small & light as possible with adequate punch to bring down the small game you might encounter. A big heavy gun is fine until you try to actually carry & use it. a .50 pistol or a .458 Weatherby are equally useless in a survival mode Dave
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Pistol isn't considered part of my survival gear, but i often have it.

When trekking to areas where it might matter i have a Kel tec folding 223 rifle. But around here food isn't a concern if crashing.
 
I like the ideas of the Keltec folder in .223. A buddy of mine is getting one, so I'll get to shoot it, and see how it works. I've heard good things. They are light, and take AR-15 mags if memory serves. Plus it is a rifle, so typically stricter handgun laws do not apply. So if you go down in occupied, Communist territory like NJ, IL, CA, MA, etc you may still get interogated, but maybe not sent to the Gulag.
 
I really like mine, not as robust as others but perfect for the mission and LIGHT as hell.
 
> my instructor laughed ...

The CFI test(s) do not include any personal survival preparation.
 
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