Landout survival - parachute or otherwise

[Bill Daniels]

If I landout, or worse parachute, I'll be ****ed and won't be a 'happy
camper'. I'll want to go home with my glider ASAP. To hell with the
fishing kit, K-Bar knife and other woodsmen stuff. I'll conceed that
adequate water, a power bar and space blankets are nice.

My priorities are:

1. Tell concerned folks exactly where I am, what my condition is, and convey
the idea that I want to get picked up ASAP. I want to carefully select who
I tell about the situation.

2. Get myself and the glider extracted with the least fuss possible
involving natives, police or professional SAR people. I don't want to sound
a general emergency with a ELT or PLB unless absolutely neccessary.

3. Get crew and myself to an establishment serving food and beer.

To this end there are two almost magical devices, Globalstar/Iridium
sat-phones and GPS. We already have GPS so we need phones. Reasonably small
sat-phones cost around $500 and a service contract with zero minutes is
trivial. If you actually need to call from the wild, $2/min is also
trivial. The phones can be rented for $30/week for use at contests and
camps. With the phone, you can even make reservations for food and beer.

Bill Daniels

[[email protected]]

On Mar 2, 11:42 am, "Bill Daniels" <bildan@comcast-dot-net> wrote:
> If I landout, or worse parachute, I'll be ****ed and won't be a 'happy
> camper'. I'll want to go home with my glider ASAP. To hell with the
> fishing kit, K-Bar knife and other woodsmen stuff. I'll conceed that
> adequate water, a power bar and space blankets are nice.
>
> My priorities are:
>
> 1. Tell concerned folks exactly where I am, what my condition is, and convey
> the idea that I want to get picked up ASAP. I want to carefully select who
> I tell about the situation.
>
> 2. Get myself and the glider extracted with the least fuss possible
> involving natives, police or professional SAR people. I don't want to sound
> a general emergency with a ELT or PLB unless absolutely neccessary.
>
> 3. Get crew and myself to an establishment serving food and beer.
>
> To this end there are two almost magical devices, Globalstar/Iridium
> sat-phones and GPS. We already have GPS so we need phones. Reasonably small
> sat-phones cost around $500 and a service contract with zero minutes is
> trivial. If you actually need to call from the wild, $2/min is also
> trivial. The phones can be rented for $30/week for use at contests and
> camps. With the phone, you can even make reservations for food and beer.
>
> Bill Daniels

Shoot Bill, you need to come fly out here in the flatlands. Ive never
landed out without having fun! And with the population density of at
least 1 house/square mile and endless flat fields, practically runway
quality, you're never a long walk from a phone.

[[email protected]]

On Mar 2, 8:42 am, "Bill Daniels" <bildan@comcast-dot-net> wrote:
> If I landout, or worse parachute, I'll be ****ed and won't be a 'happy
> camper'. I'll want to go home with my glider ASAP.

Bill, like Tony said, you need to come out to Iowa and chill. Landing
out here is how I relax and get away from it all!

Seriously though, if you parachute and live would you really be
****ed? Well, yes of course ****ed that the plane is totaled or that
someone else screwed up and ran into me, or that I F'ed up and nearly
bought it; but at the end of the day you've got your life and not much
else would matter I'd think.

If landing out is such a pain as to set your nerves on edge it seems
like kind of takes the fun out of the whole thing. I realize that
landing out in the mountains only 20 air miles from home can lead to a
multi-day retrieve and a survival situation

Yea, we got it pretty good out here in farm country (blizzards and
tornados aside). Bring your ship out and fly Region 7 or just buy
some tows at Ames in mid to late May. It's the lowest stress cross-
country flying available I bet. Heck, we leave our maps and gps's at
home and pack a cooler with beer in the glider. The fields are so
easy for landing out I sometimes crack a cold one on approach once I'm
low enough to varify no wires. The farm girls are legendary!










Only legendary.

MM

[Bela[_2_]]

On Mar 2, 9:42 am, "Bill Daniels" <bildan@comcast-dot-net> wrote:
> If I landout, or worse parachute, I'll be ****ed and won't be a 'happy
> camper'. I'll want to go home with my glider ASAP. To hell with the
> fishing kit, K-Bar knife and other woodsmen stuff. I'll conceed that
> adequate water, a power bar and space blankets are nice.
>
> My priorities are:
>
> 1. Tell concerned folks exactly where I am, what my condition is, and convey
> the idea that I want to get picked up ASAP. I want to carefully select who
> I tell about the situation.
>
> 2. Get myself and the glider extracted with the least fuss possible
> involving natives, police or professional SAR people. I don't want to sound
> a general emergency with a ELT or PLB unless absolutely neccessary.
>
> 3. Get crew and myself to an establishment serving food and beer.
>
> To this end there are two almost magical devices, Globalstar/Iridium
> sat-phones and GPS. We already have GPS so we need phones. Reasonably small
> sat-phones cost around $500 and a service contract with zero minutes is
> trivial. If you actually need to call from the wild, $2/min is also
> trivial. The phones can be rented for $30/week for use at contests and
> camps. With the phone, you can even make reservations for food and beer.
>
> Bill Daniels

For off-field landings in places like Nevada, the satellite phones are
the best option. As a poor alternative, you can also use your
radio's emergency frequency to attempt contacting an airliner and ask
them to make a phone call to your crew. It is important that you
state that this is NOT an emergency on each announcement before
someone replies.
An FAA official explained it to me that this would be a perfectly
normal use of the frequency with no subsequent ramifications.

Bela Szalai

[Tuno]

An Arizona pilot used this technique last spring to contact the
outside world after he landed out on an Indian reservation in the
mountains west of Galveston, Texas.

The retrieve was quite an adventure!

~ted/2NO

[Bela[_2_]]

On Mar 2, 7:59 pm, "Tuno" > wrote:
> An Arizona pilot used this technique last spring to contact the
> outside world after he landed out on an Indian reservation in the
> mountains west of Galveston, Texas.
>
> The retrieve was quite an adventure!
>
> ~ted/2NO

Do you mean it was an adventure because he used an emergy frequency?

Bela Szalai

[Tuno]

<snip> Do you mean it was an adventure because he used an emergy
frequency? </snip>

No; the adventure started later. The glider's trailer is still out in
the desert somewhere ...

[Bill[_7_]]

"Tuno" > wrote in news:1172890758.947266.310290@
8g2000cwh.googlegroups.com:

> An Arizona pilot used this technique last spring to contact the
> outside world after he landed out on an Indian reservation in the
> mountains west of Galveston, Texas.
>
> The retrieve was quite an adventure!
>
> ~ted/2NO
>

Mountains? Indian Reservation?

How far west of Galveston was he? 1000 miles?

-Bill



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[Eric Greenwell]

Bill Daniels wrote:

> To this end there are two almost magical devices, Globalstar/Iridium
> sat-phones and GPS. We already have GPS so we need phones. Reasonably small
> sat-phones cost around $500 and a service contract with zero minutes is
> trivial. If you actually need to call from the wild, $2/min is also
> trivial. The phones can be rented for $30/week for use at contests and
> camps.

These prices are a huge improvement over the last time I checked. What
companies offer these prices? These phones would also be a good way to
keep in touch with your crew while flying and out of radio range, and
might be at least as effective as a PLB.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

[Bill Daniels]

For the continental US, Globalstar has the best prices. The sell through
local dealers.


"Eric Greenwell" > wrote in message
news:gfmGh.2459$4u5.556@trndny09...
> Bill Daniels wrote:
>
>> To this end there are two almost magical devices, Globalstar/Iridium
>> sat-phones and GPS. We already have GPS so we need phones. Reasonably
>> small sat-phones cost around $500 and a service contract with zero
>> minutes is trivial. If you actually need to call from the wild, $2/min
>> is also trivial. The phones can be rented for $30/week for use at
>> contests and camps.
>
> These prices are a huge improvement over the last time I checked. What
> companies offer these prices? These phones would also be a good way to
> keep in touch with your crew while flying and out of radio range, and
> might be at least as effective as a PLB.
>
> --
> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
> * Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
> * "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
> * "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

[Bill Daniels]

"Eric Greenwell" > wrote in message
news:gfmGh.2459$4u5.556@trndny09...

> These prices are a huge improvement over the last time I checked. What
> companies offer these prices? These phones would also be a good way to
> keep in touch with your crew while flying and out of radio range, and
> might be at least as effective as a PLB.
>

I just Googled "globalstar rental" and got this:
http://www.allroadcommunications.com/rentals/globalstar-rentals.aspx

$20/week +$1.39/min

Actually, I think it beats the hell out of a PLB. Get two and give one to
the crew.

Bill Daniels

[[email protected]]

Not sure on those exact prices but I suspect the one to get seems to
be the new Globalstar/Qualcomm GSP-1700 handset, smaller than the
Iridium/Motorola 9805. Globalstar annual retail prices start at $300
with zero minutes and you buy minutes at $1.50 each. Does not seem
outrageous. Voicemail extra (I suspect voicemail would be handy of
your playing phone tag with people during a retrieve).

See http://www.globalstarusa.com/en/gsp1700. Still a brick compared to
consumer cell phones but with the antenna folded it is almost the
exact same size as the McMurdo 406 MHz PLB that I have in the larger
size Alan Silver SMAK pack holder on my parachute harness today. (Just
a size comparison, no I don't see a sat phone replacing a PLB).

Get one for the crew/retrieve car as well.

Cheers


Darryl Ramm

On Mar 3, 2:01 pm, Eric Greenwell > wrote:
> Bill Daniels wrote:
> > To this end there are two almost magical devices, Globalstar/Iridium
> > sat-phones and GPS. We already have GPS so we need phones. Reasonably small
> > sat-phones cost around $500 and a service contract with zero minutes is
> > trivial. If you actually need to call from the wild, $2/min is also
> > trivial. The phones can be rented for $30/week for use at contests and
> > camps.
>
> These prices are a huge improvement over the last time I checked. What
> companies offer these prices? These phones would also be a good way to
> keep in touch with your crew while flying and out of radio range, and
> might be at least as effective as a PLB.
>
> --
> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
> * Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
> * "Transponders in Sailplanes"http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
> * "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" atwww.motorglider.org

[[email protected]]

On Mar 3, 2:01 pm, Eric Greenwell > wrote:
> Bill Daniels wrote:
> > To this end there are two almost magical devices, Globalstar/Iridium
> > sat-phones and GPS. We already have GPS so we need phones. Reasonably small
> > sat-phones cost around $500 and a service contract with zero minutes is
> > trivial. If you actually need to call from the wild, $2/min is also
> > trivial. The phones can be rented for $30/week for use at contests and
> > camps.
>
> These prices are a huge improvement over the last time I checked. What
> companies offer these prices? These phones would also be a good way to
> keep in touch with your crew while flying and out of radio range, and
> might be at least as effective as a PLB.
>
> --
> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
> * Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
> * "Transponders in Sailplanes"http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
> * "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" atwww.motorglider.org

We use Globalstar sat phones at work. We found that they don't always
get a signal when driving in the mountains. However, probably would be
fairly easy to move into a more open area to get a signal. Just don't
expect it to work in every possible location. When we purchased the
phones several years ago, Globalstar was better for U.S. use and
Iridium was better for international use. Don't know if they still do,
but at that time, they used different call routing methods that made a
big difference in cost per call.
Steve

[Tuno]

> Mountains? Indian Reservation?
>
> How far west of Galveston was he? 1000 miles?

That sounds about right. Of course it was a bit north of due west.

~tuno