One of my friends recently bough a Cessna 172. The plane is flown out of the Phoenix area, mainly local area flights and short cross-country flights to the surrounding area. Currently he has no survival equipment aboard the aircraft.

I'd like to get him started in the right direction, but currently my means are limitied. My thought was to buy him some basic, quality components, and point him towards resources that would help him select the rest of his gear.

I was thinking about buying the kit shown in the following link for him:

NRA kit

What does everyone think about the contents of this kit? Any ideas on some low-cost additions I could make? I'd like to keep the total cost under $35; just something to get him thinking.

My first thought would be to skip this kit, you can do better for $35. All the components are top of the line, but there are a few things that jump out at me. First, the hard case offers little flexibility, I'd want to add a bottle of Potable Aqua at a minimum, and it doesn't look like there's room. Second, it appears that there is only one tinder cube in this kit, so that would have to ba augmented too. Thirdly, lots of peoplle like it, but I'm just not a big fan of the blast match. I've used one, and it does put out a lot of sparks, but it's just too darn big for a kit like this. For the same size, you can pack a spark lite, a mini-bic lighter, and a vial of NATO lifeboat matches.

You can put a good basic kit together for yourself for $35, but at this point, my advise to you would be to wait a few weeks and buy one of Doug's new kits with AMK. You'll get all the utility of that NRA kit and a lot more for $25.

You could then throw in a good water container, a bottle of potable aqua, some matches, and a couple strong trash bags and you'd have a good kit to give him and be under budget(always a plus.)

Just my two cents,

Chris.

napalm : i agreee with hutch66 you and your buddy would be better served by putting together your own kit..rather than a non-flexable store bought very basic kit..look at doug's listing of some aircraft kits both store bought and selfmade and get some ideas to help you get it together..i also live here in arizona myself and there are a few stores to get kit items, try r.e.i , also the sportsman warehouse it's a new place off of 27th ave and the 101fw , laradas army surplus store in mesa, and popular outfitters.. try this place to get a set of compact brit.made painswessex pen flares its called tactical practiclal he also has a small selection of survival items..just be pro active when looking for quality kit items...vince g. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.

a well stocked FAK, a couple of strong waterbottle's ( with water ), blanket for insulation, trashbag, matches, signal mirror, whistle and maybe other kinds of signal equipment. Should be sufficient for SHORT term survival in the desert. if he always has a flight plan filled and/or a beacon on board.

Often Pilots, especially those who Pooh Pooh Survival Kits, would Object on the Basis of Weight and any Bulk as it may have. Weight, Center of Gravity, Balance, and Space are Very Important Considerations in the Aviation World! Pilots have a Good Point, -when they may Raise such Considerations.

So Don't just Get or Throw Together Anything!, for him.

But there are of course Many Perfectly Suitable Survival Kits and Items, for Aircraft. Doug's being One of Many.

Get / Work From, any of these.

Do Keep general Aircraft Considerations as I speak of, in Mind, when doing so.

Survival and Preparedness is our Forte here, Aviation is Additionally that, of Only Some of us.

The Idea here is to Merge his Aviation World, with our Survivi-Prep One, in a sort of Happy Middle Ground. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]napalm[/email]

Based on price, I would highly recommend getting the kit from the NRA that you linked to and add to it. I buy all those items wholesale for my company and it would cost me over $19.00 to buy all of them... and that doesn't include the case. I have no idea how they are offering it for that price, but you can't go wrong if they are items you trust. A local surplus store sells the Blastmatch alone for $22.00 and I've seen it sold for nearly $25.00 at high-end stores.

Semper Fi,
George

I gave a talk on Wilderness Survival to a local chapter of aircraft home-builders of which I was a member. (Actually, I gave the talk twice, about a year apart.)

The first time, I put together a fairly large survival kit in a ziplock freezer bag. The major comment I received was that it was too big for most. (Homebuilt aircraft, especially, can be very small - some of them can barely carry the pilot and a set of golf clubs.) Not as much of a problem on a C172, but even there, the 172 won't take off with full fuel and four persons on board, so any weight saving is a bonus.

I've read that Bush pilots in Alaska/northern Canada typically consider their survival gear to be a fixed part of the aircraft. (The weight of the survival gear is included in the "empty weight" of the aircraft.) People down south may not see the need for it as much, so a minimal survival kit is less likely to be left behind.

This is probably going to sound like heresy, but for someone who doesn't live and breathe survival, a Bic lighter is probably a better choice than a BlastMatch. Reason is, it doesn't require any special training or practice.

For the desert, something to rig a shelter from the sun - a space blanket or two - would be invaluable.

The one thing that really got the attention of the pilots I spoke to was the SAS Gem Survival Guide. I pointed out that this would fit in a shirt pocket so there was no reason not to have it on you at all times. Several came up to me after the talk and asked for the ISBN number, or where they could buy it. So pilots are interested in this stuff (except for the guy who fell asleep, but he was killed in a plane crash a year later <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> - I don't know if the fact that he fell asleep during my lecture was indicative of his attitude toward safety but I've always wondered.)

Personally, I would always carry a GPS and hand-held aircraft transceiver, and have an ELT on board. The size of the survival kit should be tailored to what your friend is willing to carry. The best survival kit in the world is useless if it's still in the trunk of your car in the airport parking lot.

Heh heh ... its a good choice even for some of us who do! <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />