View Single Post
  #84  
Old August 6th 20, 04:02 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Ben Hirashima
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 41
Default Bailout and survival kit

I fly in the Sierras in the summer, and take bailout survival seriously. My survival strategy is #1 survive the first hours after impact, #2 get help quick. If I survive the impact, the next most likely thing to kill me is bleeding, so I carry a tourniquet and a blood clotting sponge, for wounds on the head or neck where a tourniquet cannot be applied. For #2, I carry a Garmin InReach Mini and a ACR ResQLink PLB as backup. Garmin recently had a long service outage, and I'm glad I'm not completely reliant on them. Also, one of the devices could be damaged in the crash/landing so it's good to have backup. Unfortunately, SAR can take a while and the next most serious threat is exposure. For that, I carry a survival blanket, for warmth at night and shade during the day. All my gear is carried in the zippered pockets of my REI Sahara cargo pants, with the exception of the InReach, which is attached to my parachute by a carbiner. Anything not in a zippered pocket is unlikely to still be with me after a bailout. One thing I'm missing is a backup pair of glasses, since my prescription sunglasses will definitely be lost. I'm going to pop one of the lenses out of an old pair of glasses and carry that with me. It will be compact, and allow me to see into the distance well enough if I really need to. I'm also going to add a lighter, to be able to generate smoke/light in case both satellite options fail.