On Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 5:55:10 AM UTC-7, Luc Job wrote:
For me it really depends on where you fly... The Nambia desert isn't the same as the Alps where SAR is available within minutes... As soon as they are aware of an emergency.

What is my absolute minimum to carry in my pockets is a knife and the loudest whistle you can find.

Even in the Alps the cellular coverage is doubtful... And I'm still using the phone to fly, so it's not on me... But it's quite likely that anywhere in the mountains some ears will be in range of a good whistle.

I learned this a long time ago, a friend of mine spend 3 days in the debris of his glider, with both legs broken, drowned into a thick fog layer that formed from wet maritime air flowing through the coast... On final glide, when he was able to notice that he was too far down the long valley after the pass to return and crashed into the trees... Even the ELT was broken at impact...

SAR operations were impaired by the fog and could only take place on ground and started the same day at the right place... approximately.

With a whistle, he would have been found less than 1 hour after the beginning of the operation... They found him by chance, going down to stop the search... He fully recovered and is still flying, not without a whistle...

A whistle is good for searches on the ground and within a mile of your location - airborne SAR won't hear it, but they can see a signal mirror. Better yet, carry a handheld.

Tom