On 3/3/07 11:30 AM, in article ,
"Shawn" wrote:

Bullwinkle wrote:
When I was in military survival training, they showed us the picture of a
guy who died because he didn't have his hook knife.

Landed in a tree, ended up hanging upside down, wrapped up in shroud lines.
Had his hook knife with him, but had not secured it in the survival knife
pocket of his flight suit with the supplied cord. He pulled it out, dropped
it, couldn't reach it on the ground (just a few inches too far), and died
before he could be rescued.

Bill Daniels blithely speaks in a similar thread about being mostly worried
about where to go for dinner and a beer: if he's not joking about that, then
his level of denial is almost pathological. He badly needs to re-examine his
assumptions.

You've got to think worst case scenario, and then decide what you need to
survive until you can get rescued or rescue yourself.

For me, I've given a lot of thought to the topic, and hope I'm prepared.

I can think of a worse worst case scenario than that, given a little
time. Probably would require full body armor and close air support to
survive. ;-)
Avoiding the need to hit the silk by having enough flight time,water and
pee bags in the cockpit is by far the best preparation IMNSHO.


Shawn


OK: if "just don't have the accident in the first place" works for you,
great.

I'm just paranoid enough to want to be prepared for an overnight stay in the
boonies, potentially with injuries, and without access to the aircraft
wreckage. Therefore, survival essentials will go with me if I have to jump
(a course of action that I, too, will try to avoid through proper
preparation and training).

Agree that training, experience, and hydration are important preventive
measures, to which I pay close attention. But how will all the training in
the world keep you or me from being overrun from the rear by a clueless
Cessna driver, or a NetJets pilot letting down into Reno? Sometimes you just
can't prevent bad things from happening.

Shawn, if you're so sure you can avoid using it, why not fly this season
without a parachute?

Different strokes for different folks.

Respectfully,
Bullwinkle