That's what happened to Mike Durant when he landed hard in Mogadishu. Despite the shock absorbers built into his seat, the impact broke one of his legs and some vertebrae cracked from compression. He likely would not have been able to exit the craft without being pulled out by Shughart or Gordon.

Thanks everyone.

Couple of quick points. My main concern isn't necessarily a crash landing (although that is a possibility). More likely is a situation requiring either a forced or precautionary landing, followed by a forced vacation in the woods. An example situation occurred a few years ago, when an instructor had to make a forced landing on a logging road in the mountain. They were picked up by another helicopter just a few minutes before dark. Any later and they would have had to wait at least another day, and considering the unpredictable weather in the PNW, there is no guarantee that the next day's weather will be any conducive to getting an aircraft in.

Other big concern, unfortunately, is weight and storage space. The aircraft I fly have very small useful loads, and taking extra equipment often means taking less fuel, which is not always a great trade off. I figure I can spare about 3#. The entire kit needs to fit within a pocket in my flight bag.

I like the idea of the PLB, I'll be looking into that as finances allow. Unfortunately, that might be a bit.

Signal mirror also seems like a good idea. I'll be picking one up shortly.

The space blanket is far from ideal, but in a compromise between weight, compactness and versatility, it's probably about the best I can do. Realistically, in cold weather, I would likely be working to create shelter and fire, and use that for warmth.

Any other ideas are of course welcome.

Given the scenario you've outlined, it seems to me that a saw would be a highly practical addition. There is no more efficient tool for gathering wood or making shelter. And the weight penalty is minimal.

Swap the knife in your kit for an SAK Rucksak, locking main blade and saw in the larger Swiss Army format.

With a three pound limit, you can put together a decently comprehensive kit, somewaht broader in scope than what you have now. Really pay attention to ounces - I would look long and hard at the need for two knives (I do not buy into the "two is one, and one is none" philosophy), and you can get lighter knives of comparable utility than what you have now.

Consider one or two very light freeze dried meals to go along with your snacks. You should have no problem getting water.

I am curious, does your office or any one else track your flights? We did this in the Channel Islands with every flight - it really paid off when a helo had to set down on the ocean one fine day, but only for about an hour. This was before the PLB era. After reading Ritter's post carefully, I think he may be suggesting that get a PLB.

And yes, it sounds like you have an extremely fascinating job.

We have specific procedures in place whenever an aircraft is dispatched, which includes the pilot/instructor creating a manifest of who is on board, where you are going, when you will return, etc. We also fill out a dispatch board with the same info, and a few more specific bits of info. If we are going past 25 miles from the airport, we file a VFR flight plan and update the info with FSS if we make any changes.

We have a fair amount of aircraft in the air all day long, and we all work together. We report our positions to each other quite often, not only for traffic avoidance, but also if there was a problem, it would narrow the search grid a fair amount.

Our company is looking into other methods of tracking flights, we tested some satellite tracking system, we have some ELT's installed in some aircraft. But all of that is in the test phase at this point.



I could definitely have a worse job.

Just wondering how water fits into your overall weight limit,
at 2lbs per QT are you already including it as part of you normal
flight kit?
Considering your 3 lb limit I would leave out a hard water bottle
and pack the platy bag.
I would also opt for a HD foil cook pan.
Even an empty nalgene with a SS cook cup will weight together almost 10-11 oz.
yep 6.2 oz 4.9 oz , bottle & cup, thats to much of a weight penalty if you have only a 3 pound total limit.

BTW the RuckSak knife mentioned is well worth having.

A mosquito headnet to save you from being eaten alive, while you boil water for a brew waiting for SAR to pick you up after activating your brand new shiny PLB

Since I usually carry a liter or so of water, calculated into my flight weight, I am good with carrying that amount + up to 3# additionally, although, keeping it lighter is better.

Suppose there'd be repercussions if you made student-pilot weight restrictions 3 lbs more stringent. Ergo, kit capacity just increased 100%!