Dress As Though You Plan to Walk Home from Germany

The potential for being required to survive in a barren area after a forced landing requires the prudent pilot to prioritize, before and after takeoff. To survive you will need some or all of these : warmth, light, shelter, water, food, tools, first aid, knowledge of your area, a means to communicate and assist in your rescue; the ability and/or knowledge to identify and find wild edibles; protection from wild animals.

A minimum survival equipment list might look like this:

-Warm clothing, appropriate to the weather, can make a huge difference in comfort
-A wool blanket or sleeping bag for each person aboard
-Several means to repeatedly light a fire, which will provide warmth to avoid hypothermia, and light to keep you thinking positive and protect you from predators. Magnesium/flint sticks are cheap, lightweight and reusable. Or a small bag of BIC lighters.
-Hardware: A rifle, ammunition, sharp axe, knife, sharpening stone and a multi-tool. The gun provides safety form predators and gives you a way to obtain food. The axe and knife make gathering firewood and building a shelter manageable and may also be used to skin an animal. Multi-tools make removing useful parts of your aircraft, like wires for tying and seat cushions for soaking up gasoline much easier
-Snare wire and fishing equipment. In many northern areas these are the only way to get protein after the wild edibles are gone for the year
-Something to make a shelter from wind and cold. At minimum, a ten foot by 12 foot sheet of six mil plastic; a bright, international orange tarp is better. Those foil space blankets can be useful to reflect heat from a fire or to help insulate/waterproof your shelter. Don't count on them to keep you warm; I've tried them and they don't work unless you are nude, something you're unlikely to do out in the bush
-A good first aid kit, with enough glycerin and potassium permanganate to use as a fire starter by combining them. Plenty of various sizes of bandages, a scissors, sterile gauze, tape, a splint or two, slings for broken arms and some pain medicine. A first aid manual can be a lifesaver
A gallon or two of water in container(s) that can be used to gather and boil water or to cook food
-A signaling mirror, to attract attention from aircraft overhead
About 5000 calories of food and instant hot beverages; the most compact options are soup or hot cocoa packets, beef jerkey, dried food packs, small tins of meat and a bag of hard candy.
A waterproof compass and sectional map of the area. Yes, those old fashioned sectionals still have a good use. Many, if not all, of them have the air-to-ground rescue signals on the back of the map
-Knowledge of how to build a survival shelter. Don't build a lean-to for cold weather survival; it does not help contain heat. A small, tepee-like structure, just large enough to lie and sit it, will help keep you warm and dry. To insulate against the cold ground, use leaves, moss, or boughs to make at least an 8-inch bed to sleep on
-Your cellular phone and handheld NAV COM
-A properly working ELT

There is a section of northern Canada referred to in the Air Regulations as the "Sparsely Settled Area." When flying in that area, survival equipment is required by regulation to be carried aboard the aircraft. If you have to force land in a sparse area, try to land as close to a water source or a road as possible. Creek beds have sandbars which are preferable to landing into the trees. Don't worry about damaging your airplane; it has failed you, so focus on saving lives and getting rescued. Don't forget to broadcast your location and intentions on 121.5 while you still have some altitude, to allow your signal to carry as far as possible. If your engine quits you'll be scared as hell, but try to remember the best aviation axiom of them all: Aviate, Navigate, Communicate

Once on the ground, make your primary decisions based on local conditions. Is the airplane still usable for shelter, for material to tie knots, or can you use some of the plane's fuel to start fires? If you landed just an hour or two before sundown, you had best gather as much firewood as possible and stay close to the fire to get through that first night. If you land in morning, you may have enough time to make a shelter before getting your fire going. If you land in poor weather, shelter is likely the most urgent priority. If you force land in summer, heat and shelter might be be less important that attempting to communicate your predicament to overflying aircraft or treating injuries. Remember that even during the warm months overnight temperatures are cold enough to cause discomfort, even hypothermia.

Think twice before moving from your original location. If you must move, leave a directional marker at your original site before leaving. One old survival expert once told me this axiom: "Just make the biggest goddamn fire you can. That'll attract attention for sure."

Since you are the pilot you'll be forced into a leadership role. Assess and treat injuries as best you can. Try to keep yourself and others busy. A good first day's work would be making shelter, getting a fire going and preparing three signal fires in the shape of a triangle, about eighty feet apart—the international distress symbol. You need a pile of slightly damp material beside each fire, to make smokey fires during daytime.

Be decisive and remain positive, to help the others who are probably more fearful and unsure of their chances to get out safely. When communicating with your handheld, remember that people who are trying to assist you may broadcast on frequencies other than 121.5. Broadcast on 121.5 for just the first five minutes of each hour, to conserve your battery. Is the aircraft radio still usable? Good imagery, like evoking the memory of those 33 Chilean miners who survived 69 days below ground before being rescued, can help make things seem a bit more positive. This is very important, because a sense of helplessness can lead to panic.

Remember that after heat, light and shelter, water is the most pressing thing to address when in a survival situation, since human beings can only go without it for a couple of days. People can go several days without food if necessary, so try to get your most difficult jobs done in the first 24 hours. Reassess your situation as changes in your circumstances dictate. Are you close enough to a road that hiking out to it may be an option? Should you follow a powerline? Is there a major waterway nearby, something that would have frequent traffic?

Having basic survival materials aboard your airplane allows you to communicate your plight, stay warm and dry and assist in your rescue. Another thing you might try is read a good survival book and keep it in the airplane. You might even watch Les Stroud's Survivorman show, or Bear Grils' Man Vs. Wild, for more survival tips.

D McIntyre
Surrey, BC Canada

All the items you mention are good to have without a doubt.However, you left out the PLB ( personal locator beacon). As we know the majority of accidents are survivable.However,ELT 's fail and cell coverage is not always avaivable. The PLB makes the best sense and delivers the most bang for the buck. I attach mine to my person even when just doing T & G's in the pattern.Don't fly without one.PERIOD!!