Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1640011
The list in my post at my earlier link, which is similar to Rob's list, weighs ca. 3kg.

OK, water and the Smith & Wesson are extra.

I have a very basic kit in the Jodel, in a tobacco tin, that weighs <100g.
#1640012
Charliesixtysix wrote:What about investing c.80litres of AVGAS tokens in a PLB.

I’d far rather ride home in a nice warm yellow helicopter that sit watching some smoldering moss failing to warm my evening brew....

Oh, I do take a wolly jumper as well, just in case they haveto wait for the adverts before launching out to find us.


Well, in fact the PLB answer was basically wot I said to the ex-mil pilot - but his look of well...this... :roll: kinda got me thinking.

I saw his point - relying on one bit of kit you've never used before, expecting it to work etc, with no backup plan or training didn't sound that clever - hence my mentioning outdoorsie/survival stuff I had done. I'm guessing a fair percentage of PPLs haven't got the foggiest about basic survival, and I think that was his point. I know he was saying it to wind me up...
#1640018
Did a 'paper' survival exercise on a management course.
We were down in a hot desert, miles from civilisation.
One of the items we had retrieved (as well as what was in our pockets) was a parachute. The others said 'that's no use' we're already on the ground'.
Then I pointed out that when the sun got high you needed shade and sheltering under a metal wing would be pretty hot whereas under the parachute it would be cooler (not a lot, but cooler). In addition, a parachute spread out to make a sunshade would also make an excellent marker for aircraft searching for us.
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1640020
Also, and I guess if any bodies bother you, the a parachute would serve to wrap them in too, and stow them in a handy corner.

Although TBH if they are management course bodies you might not worry too much. :twisted:

Anyway...

Stuff I have collected over the years includes this small leaflet that might serve to laminate into a tiny size and put with any emergency kit you have, and this set of survival notes from Canadian AOPA .
#1640022
I used to have a set of RAF booklets, acquired in my ATC cadet days, titled 'Arctic Survival, Sea Survival, Desert Survival' etc which were usually included in dinghy packs or even parachute seat packs.
The Sea Survival one was particularly handy; it showed you how to open a coconut using a wooden stake you have driven into the ground (in the middle of an ocean?)
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1640025
I have a set of those leaflets too.

At the time of publication (1950s/1960s) there was e.g. a Far East Air Force and a Pacific element of the RAF, so ditching in tropical seas with a dinghy washing up on an island or atoll wasn't an unrealistic outcome.

One can always complain about too much information; a more valid complaint would be, I suggest, too little or none.
#1640036
OCB wrote:
Charliesixtysix wrote:What about investing c.80litres of AVGAS tokens in a PLB.
....


Well, in fact the PLB answer was basically wot I said to the ex-mil pilot - but his look of well...this... :roll: kinda got me thinking.

I saw his point - relying on one bit of kit you've never used before, expecting it to work etc, with no backup plan or training didn't sound that clever - hence my mentioning outdoorsie/survival stuff I had done. I'm guessing a fair percentage of PPLs haven't got the foggiest about basic survival, and I think that was his point. I know he was saying it to wind me up...


All fair enough, but I am suprised by how few light aircraft/glider pilots I come across with a PLB in their flying kit.
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#1640050
Years back when I was in the ATC (cadets, not pilot botherers) we did a Cairngorm survival exercise. Chucked out of a 3-tonner with water bottles, greatcoat and o/s map in the late afternoon and expected to make a finish line some miles away by noon the next day.

The one abiding memory I have of that was that heather (the plant) makes a great insulator.

We were a Liverpool squadron. Half the guys in my group had never seen a field, let alone a mountain.

I suspect that in today's cadets they wouldn't dream of running anything so adventurous.

Rob P
#1640059
Rob P wrote:Years back when I was in the ATC (cadets, not pilot botherers) we did a Cairngorm survival exercise. Chucked out of a 3-tonner with water bottles, greatcoat and o/s map in the late afternoon and expected to make a finish line some miles away by noon the next day.

The one abiding memory I have of that was that heather (the plant) makes a great insulator.

We were a Liverpool squadron. Half the guys in my group had never seen a field, let alone a mountain.

I suspect that in today's cadets they wouldn't dream of running anything so adventurous.

Rob P

They might dream of it but as with a lot of other things nowadays, it would be classed as 'unsafe' and prohibited.
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#1640063
Rob P wrote:Years back when I was in the ATC (cadets, not pilot botherers) we did a Cairngorm survival exercise. Chucked out of a 3-tonner with water bottles, greatcoat and o/s map in the late afternoon and expected to make a finish line some miles away by noon the next day.

Rob P


I wonder what the Risk Assessment forms would look like for that one?

Out of curiosity, was it just cadets, or any Officers/NCO? I’m hazarding a guess you probably didn’t get much “classroom” training for it, but there were (hopefully) some senior cadets who’d done the same/similar who gave hands on training.

ISTR in the mid 80s relatively frequent news articles about groups of youngsters (scouts, cadets etc) getting lost, then local mountain rescue,plod, volunteers etc spending the night looking for them. I never understood the fuss (as a kid at the time...as a parent now, that’s something different).

Only if they hadn’t turned up the day after, or weather had turned killer unexpectedly. Cairngorms as an example can go from sunny 20oC dawdle to fighting a horizontal sleet storm in a wink.
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1640080
Certainly this planning is a big thing for S. Africa but sometimes it really does depend on luck, which the pilot who survived the crash that killed Mark W of this forum last decade certainly had. He only survived as there was a planned search and rescue practice exercise going on in tbe hills nearby. They wouldn't have got there same day otherwise and the crash had attracted a wild leopard or two which were stalking as the team arrived.