I find some of the assumptions many have made after the original post rather naive.

I'm going to echo the suggestion on talking to Doug and for your FAKs, the folks at AMK, but just to toss the ball around...

You have SAR assets available- Civilian? Military? Contract? Whos? How long will it take for them spool up? Are you over water, or over land only? How long is your typical flight, and are you ever out of communication with the airports?

I would think the first thing is the individual kit, on each person. The PSP or the SOL from AMK or one of the better small kits from BCB (but go through it with a fine tooth comb), a good pocket knife, and water.

For the aircraft, you're big thing will be signals. The sat phone/gps combo, and/or a PLB per aircraft, based on the checkered performance of ELTs that's we've seen recently. Mirrors, whistles, signal panels, strobes to show exactly where you are. Flares, smoke bombs, not so fond of.

Fire extinguisher.

Water. Obviously.

Shelter. I don't know that part of the world, so other than a sun shade, I'm not sure.

A good first aid kit.

Before any americans start accusing Am_Fear_Liath_Mor of being a gay pimp:

'Fag' is british slang for a cigarette.

Leigh,



I was unaware of potential issues with magnetic compasses in the UAE. On two resent trips to Abu Dhabi, I used my compass to align several SatCom antennas and it seamed to perform fine if I was clear of aircraft or structures. What is the source of your information?

I've spent a lot of time exploring the Mojave Desert in my neck of the woods, here in the western US, and the desert in the UAE is barren by comparison.

Wild_Weasel

I would like a data source for the solar compass statement as well. Without support for your statement, I'm tempted to call it a bogus claim.

I know people who've been to most of the Arabian peninsula, including the UAE. They're the kind of people who'd mention things like magnetic oddness to me, they know I'm interested in stuff like that. And a fast google showed nothing relevant except for this thread.

First off, allow me to thank all of you for your responses. Already the responses have stimulated me to think carefully about this initiative and I vlaue greatly the comments, which I'll address:

Blast-suggest you look at this link for geography of UAE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates
As for the inhabitation, mostly very rural (sparse) villages/towns, with a few large cities (Dubai, Sharjah), many people living way out in the boonies that do farming/raise goats, sheep, etc., yes, very safe to approach the locals, they always seem to be interested in anything new (in spite of the language barrier), Arabian customs/law REQUIRE them to assist lost/stranded/distressed personnel

Ironman-As for the SAR assets, the government (both military and civilian) contracts out the SAR mission to an outfit called Falcon Aviation Services : http://www.falconaviation.ae/services.php?mid=35
They are using the B412 and Augusta AW139, equipped w/FLIR, Nightsun, etc. Each helicopter is crewed with at least one paramedic, so med treatment arrives when the helicopter arrives. I just had a chat with these guys today over at the arprt and will soon be delivering two briefings to them (our ops/fleet info and another brief on the Cirrus SR22 ballistic recovery system (BRS)). They are based at three separate locations in the UAE, so I'm figuring that they can get up + running w/:30 after receiving notification from the ATC boys that we've an overdue a/c. Flight ops will be both over land and water, with some of the overwater ops being beyond power-off glide distance for that altitude. JAA/JAR regs require PFDs for all onboard anyway (another on of me projects). Also, mandatory reporting requirements (CAR OPS-1) require that our guys report to ATC every :30.
I'm still staying with my focus on signaling (to include 406 Mhz PLB), shelter, med kit, and food/water. I'm NOT going to equip these guys for an extended desert party, I just don't feel they'll be out there that long.
Please keep the cards + letters coming, I really appreciate all of the input!!

Desertsafetyguy