Switlik has changed their civilian aviation survival vest line. The X-Back looks interesting, but seems to be missing some support in the lower back. I don't usually second-guess a company like Switlik, but that design seems to be missing something.

Edit: D'oh! The x-back is set up for MOLLE-style additions. Ignore everything I said.

Interesting design but I think it'd be improved by the ability to attach a gear pouch. Luckily that probably wouldn't be overly necessary, at least in my case. My most likely use would be while flying to off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and according to our safety guy 90% of downed-helicopter rescues occur in under 30 minutes.

Their aviation drysuit is pretty cool. A few minor additions and it'd be an interesting choice to wear while flying out to the rigs.

-Blast

The available MOLLE-style accessories are limited but apparently specific to this vest. It seems like the new ACR ResQLink will fit in the X-Back's cell-phone pouch. My cell-phone won't handle a dunking so I'm not wasting space by storing it on a blue-water vest.

Also, when I took a good look at the side profile pic of the X-Back:

it appears that my issue with it missing something in the lower back is unwarranted. I'm too used to military versions which carry a lot more gear. The sides on this version appear to not need more support; they are just there to provide real estate for the accessory pouches and are not part of the flotation system.

Did you read about the two Marines who ejected at night off the SOCAL coast? ~4 hours in the water before USCG ship located them and helo made the pick-up. 4 hours in the GOM ain't nuthin' compared to 4 hours off the CA coast at night.

For this kit the Switlik Modular Aircrew vest was selected (the vest above is not yet shipping) with a dedicated pocket for the ResQLink PLB (no explanation required) and a dedicated radio pocket for an Icom M72 Marine radio -- it doesn't float, but it is IPX8 certified. The thread at boating rescue was something of an epiphany for me regarding getting rescued quickly following an unplanned "landing" offshore. The Marine channelized radio in an aviation survival kit makes a lot of sense; the most likely place I'll be following a survivable ditching is floating in a raft or in a flotation vest. At that point a Marine radio may get help sooner than the PLB which is in the same vest. Every major ship and many smaller boats carry and monitor Ch.16, and Coast Guard helo's also have Marine VHF capability.

Additionally there are two large utility pockets to carry the balance of my survival equipment; everything is tied in with 550 para cord sheathing:

1. ACR ResQLink PLB (IPX8) my little piece of the Cospas-Sarsat system.

2. Icom M72 handheld marine radio (IPX8) -- It doesn't float, but it is waterproof and is tied into its own pouch in the floation vest.

3. A Garmin Geko 301 GPS (IPX7) (my little piece of the Global Positioning System) in a waterproof bag (used in conjunction with radio to let folks at the other end of the radio know my location separate from Cospas-Sarsat). As it goes into the vest it has a new set of Lithium AAA batteries. Waypoints programmed correspond to aviation NAVAIDS controlling the airspace in which I work.

4. Red Laser flare (IPX8)

5. Flashlight -- Fenix 1xAA (IPX8)

6. Glass Signal Mirror

7. Sharx Whistle

8. Spyderco Atlantic Salt

9. complete DR PSP

10. 20' 550 para cord (for tying peeps together if not in the raft.

If I ever have to use this kit, I'll let y'all know how it went and how hypothermic I became. My next big purchase in this regard will be a dry suit.

This appears to be extremely well thought out assuming a 1 to 6 hour rescue period. If you think you may be in areas where rescue may be further away, you may want to add something in the basic food and potable water area. The lifeboat version of food blocks and 1 cup water containers comes to mind. Unfortunately, weight and space limitations may keep that from being on the vest.

Thanks, I specifically left out food and water. If I have time to take my flight bag there's a quart of water and maybe a sandwich (along with wool hat and socks). The point of the kit however is alerting the "system" to where I am and getting a Coast Guard helo in the air.

There is a lot of redundancy built in but it's all focused on eliminating search from the effort and moving straight to rescue -- being pulled out of the water before hypothermia makes it moot.

I'd really like to be pulled out before Cospas-Sarsat has time to respond.

Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic?

There is some eternal law that guarantees that since you have prepared carefully, you will never have to use it. Good idea on the dry suit. Around the northern Channel Islands, where the water is usually rather cool (48-65F), there is an interesting correlation. People who go into the water wearing wet suits survive, those without them or the equivalent don't, if immersion is more than a few hours.

The most extreme example was a guy in a full wetsuit who drifted for more than twenty-four hours, finally fetching up on an oil platform, quite hale and hearty..