REPEAT: I think what some are thinking is the sun, in the illustration, is, I believe, intended to represent the "fireball."

Try, try again.....

In the final illustration, his hand is covering the sighting hole (or so it seems,ladies and gentlemen of the jury).

Parting comments: How could anything published in Backpacker magazine be incorrect?

Where, oh where, is Rafowell when you need him?

Great thread.......

Keep trying....

In the second picture - of the guy holding his hand in a "V" - the mirror needs to be pointing toward an imaginary point directly between the sun and the plane -- not toward the plane itself.

Of course the idea is to flash the hand because you simply can't see the flash on the plane itself.

It is critical to have the mirror as close to the eye as possible, line the hand's "V" up with the plane (so the mirror/eye, the "V", and the plane are in a straight line), and then angle the mirror toward that imaginary point between the sun & plane until the flash hits the hand's "V". If the mirror is very close to the eye, then the flash on the hand should also flash the plane.

I don't think the artist really understood how it all works.

BTW, I've never really been comfortable at using the aiming grid on signal mirrors. I find my eye glasses keep the mirror too far from my eye and I really struggle to get the "flash" on the grid. I find the "V" method much much easier.

in the 3rd pic the fireball is on the aircraft and in pic 4 with the mirror tilted the fireball is still on the aircraft ...

Really, considering the artistic license used by the writers of these articles in order to convey information they don't really understand, this one is not too bad. If you like the idea of using a mirror as a signaling device (highly recommended), get one and practice using it so you aren't "learning" during a situation.

You are correct as to the technique, though I don't think the artist got that really all that wrong. It is pretty much impossible to determine anything beyond generalities given the scale of the image. Could have been done slightly better, but.... Pretty standard image of how to do that. I could easily set that up in real life and have it looking in a photo pretty damn near like shown.

And, in any case, that's not the obvious screw up I am looking for. :-)

Nope, though you are getting closer....

I'm thinking the angle of the mirror is parallel with the light and hence you wouldn't be able to get that 90 degrees that's illustrated.

I am comparing the image in the PSP survival instructions with the images from this page. The image in the PSP survival instructions is more clear. Other than what was already mentioned, I am not seeing anything that is “obvious.”

This begs a question. If we can't see what is wrong, how well would we do if our lives depend on how well we use a signal mirror?

Jeanette Isabelle

Exactly what I was thinking as I was typing my reply...