Every time i watch Cast Away (Tom Hanks) it makes me think about how some people don't prepare at all.

Also if you were in TOM Hank's shoes (IN THE MOVIE OF COURSE!) and your plane was about to take off and you could take equipment with you, what would you take? <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

P.S.-in the movies he didn't even have a knife

If by some miracle I survived the crash I'd have what I always fly with. Full set of clothes (no short pants), including jacket and comfortable shoes. Bic lighter, whistle,cell phone on my person. I'd add needles and thread since they are now OK, maybe even a small fishing kit.
Previous to 9-11 I wore my whole PSK vest and folding
knife.

It seems the easist way would be to have a C02 inflatable vest and a PLB strong enough to be picked up by sensors: Thats all legal on planes now i think?

I was a little HUA when I did my last post. Add GI dog tags, signal mirror and the photon light on the key ring. We should come up with a "legal to fly with" PSK.

I think it should consist of:

Thread
Mirror
Fishing line +Hooks
Cheat card
Photon
magnessium+Flint?
Matches?
Cotton Balls
Aspirin
band aids+ as much 1st aid as wanted
triple antbiotic pouch
needles
paracord
duct tape

Also: if airport security finds a tin wrapped in duct tape with cord around it, suspiciously heavy, THERE GOING TO BE SEARCHING YOU! <img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> very thoroughly <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

If you're flying over water, the plane is required to have inflatable life vests available to each passenger. If you don't trust the airlines' life vests and want to bring your own, then - paradoxically - you may be in violation of the airline regs.

There was a thread here - or maybe an article by Doug - about how ferry pilots are flying long distances over water with no life raft, because the life rafts CO2 canisters are classed as HAZMAT and the cost of shipping the raft back home after the ferry flight would be more than the pilot got paid for making the flight. I forget the details, but I'm sure someone else can point to the source. (I don't know if this would apply to a CO2 life vest - obviously, though, it doesn't affect the ones that the airlines are approved to carry on each flight.)

If you're talking about a non-commercial flight, that would be different, I suppose. (After all, there's nothing preventing a ferry pilot from taking a life raft along, other than the expense of getting it back afterwards.)

I think Castaway was one of the best pro knife movies made in a long time.He did have a knife a sak,he just left it behind with his keys.

Then at the end after his rescue and using a skate blade as a knife,he is given his keys back.He grabs the sak and kind of grins.That message was understood by the audience.ofcourse now you can't fly with it!!

Well, as he was flying in a cargo plan, I doubt there would be any restrictions one what he could carry (Don't quote me on that one <img src="images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />), so if I were him and flew regulary, I would take a carry on bag with lots of useful gear, just in case. Knife, tarp, FAK, you know the stuff.

>>Well, as he was flying in a cargo plan, I doubt there would be any restrictions one what he could carry

Don't count on it, there was an attempted hijacking of a FedEx plane some years ago. A pilot who'd been passed over for promotion smuggled a hammer on board (he was flying in the jumpseat). His intentions were to kill the Captain, First Officer and Flight Engineer, then ram the plane into the Fed Ex Head Office (located at the airport). (This was years before 9/11, btw.) His first blow paralysed the Captain, causing permament disability; his second hit the First Officer as he turned to see what the commotion was. It ended with the First Officer (badly injured) and the Flight Engineer wrestling with this nutcase while the Captain, in terrible pain and unable to move one arm, called in a Hijack/Mayday and brought the plane around for one of the most incredible landings ever pulled off. (Realizing he was too high to make the intended runway, he put the plane into a 90 degree banked turn at less than 1000 feet altitude, lined up with the crossing runway and managed to bring the plane to a safe landing.)

The would-be hijacker basically had the book thrown at him -3 counts of attempted murder, 3 counts assault with a deadly weapons, attempted hijacking, attempted extortion, endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight (which, surprisingly, is probably the most serious charge, as it carries a possible death sentence in the US and a possible life sentence even in Canada). I forget what his sentence was, but it was enough that he'll never see his kids except through a pane of bullet-proof glass for the rest of his life.

I believe, sadly, that none of the three pilots ever returned to active flying, due to their injuries.

If you remember, he almost took his keys with him, but his girlfriend needed them <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> One would have to go thru security to get to the cargo plane anyway right? I think back when the movie was made, he could have carried a BOB or PSK on the plane. Also he was friends with the crew , i think?