EDC for Flight Attendants

My wife is a Flight Attendant and I have been thinking about what sorts of EDC stuff would be good for her. She spends 2-3 nights in hotels out of town, and has to pass through a metal detector and DHS checkpoint every day going in to work.

What I have assembled for her thus far is:
Fox 40 whistle
6' duct tape
Photo II microlight
LED flashlight (I plan on getting here an E1E or E2E for this)
Small Brunton compass

It was a struggle getting her to carry this much (she doesn't like clutter she says). Any ideas on other things and some rationale behind it?

Thanks.

Travel size Sewing Kit

Silk scarf/cotton bandana (Something she might actually wear or have on person. Can be used as improvised smoke filter, fire protection, wound management, etc.)

Small FAK (bandaids, gauze, antiseptic wipes, nitrile gloves, imodium, etc.)

Safety pins

6ft+ paracord

Nail Clippers

4" zip ties

Pre-paid calling card

Pack-flat N95 mask




Thats off the top of my head. This stuff takes up very little space.

"It was a struggle getting her to carry this much........."

If it were me, I'd involve her in selecting what she is going to carry rather than selecting things that she had already indicated that she doesn't want. Based on your description, I have the impression you are sold on an EDC kit, but you wife isn't interested.

All of your items were what came to mind for me. I suspect that, in the event of an unscheduled off airport landing (pretty words for a crash), there would be emergency supplies available, or her personal stuff would be lost onboard anyway (I don't think that she could carry her "kit" while actually working while inflight). What she needs is something to get her to and from a hotel, and while in her room, and that she can actually carry onboard. Sewing kit and FAK come to my mind first...

Some good ideas there LED. My concern isn't for when she's at or near the plane - they have more emergency gear than most of us will ever dream of - it is for when she's at the hotels and off duty in another city.

Self defense items are out since she can't get them through security. She has had problems in the past with power outages in hotels, ripped luggage and ripped luggage, hence the lights and tape. She reads her work related message boards and some of the things that other people have gone through are pretty scary.

FWIW, I took paramedic shears through many security checkpoints on a Hawaii trip last year. You can do a lot of useful work with these shears. Security only looked at them in one place. My standard-size deodorant bar got more attention.

Battery alarm clock that will get her up.

Just thought I'd give my two cents as someone who has worked with the airline business on the LE side:

There is no point in EDCing anything that you would think is worth while in a normal environment (I.E. KNIFE, FIRESTARTING DEVICE).

To me it seems you are looking for things that she can use when off the airplane. In that case it would also matter if she flies international flights.

Maps and phone numbers for local services are most important. There is no sense carrying tons of gear for CONUS when your stuck in Bali.

If your wife is not quite into preparedness and you can't get her to agree with your list, there are two things I would take off right away:

Compass
Surefire E1 or E2

The compass is only useful if you know how to use it, and in most cases only useful if you have a map.

The Surefire is only useful if you train with it as a self defense tool.

I would recommend the following items in addition to what you have listed, as well as other posts:

(2)prepaid credit cards with $50.00 each
(1) $50.00 US currency
(2) $20.00 US currency
(2) $10.00 US currency
(5) $5.00 US currency
(10) $1.00 US currency
(2) prepaid calling cards with at least one having international capability
(2) sets of all identification and medical needs/insurance other than originals: (1) photocopy, (1) flash drive
Phone numbers for at least (2) travel agencies CONUS and (3) OCONUS
If traveling OCONUS, phone numbers/addresses for all Consulates and/or Embassies both US and allied.

The money can be split up between luggage and on the person, but the first two listed denominations will be able to pay for at least one night in a safe hotel OCONUS. The rest can be used for food and other needs. Any country will take US dollars. Although you may get screwed dealing in Europe (Euros are generally better accepted) it's worth the hassle.

Hope this helps....

I've got to disagree here. There have been many times when I've been happy to have a flashlight in my purse.

The most dramatic example was leading a group of people down eight flights of stairs during an apartment building fire. The emergency lights didn't come on, so it was pitch black in the interior stairwell.

A more mundane example would be earlier tonight, when I had to use a restroom where the lightbulb had burned out. It was also pitch black inside the restroom, and I didn't want to fall in. I clipped the LED light to my shirt, and no problem.

You could argue that it's overpriced/overkill -- the flashlight I used tonight was a Photon X-Light Micro LED flashlight, which was perfectly acceptable. During the fire I definitely wished I had a better flashlight. A LED flashlight wouldn't cut it in that circumstance -- I think I was using a 2-AA Maglite at the time, and that was barely adequate.

She might appreciate the Surefire if one of those hotels had a fire alarm go off at 3:00AM, and she needed to get down ten flights of stairs to get out.

i agrea, it's a bit like a woman trying to get a guy in to the shoe thing. Would you like it, if your wife would force you in to designer shoes?

Danger, Grasshopper-you are in perilous waters. IMHO (based upon 30 years in a female dominated profession, 33 years of marriage, and parenting of 3 daughters) women tend to perceive threats to survival in a different context than do men. Women identify threats to survival as the things that are actually likely to kill us: heart attack and stroke. Men tend to perceive threats to survival as the things that are fun to consider: airplane crashes, teotwawki, civil unrest, zombie invasion. This is why dw will tend to encourage expending resources on diet and exercise rather than to encourage the acquisition of more and better edged weapons and firearms. Cognitive dissonance: this will not be resolved by hiding a DRPSK in her luggage. As HerbG has already indicated, the key to this is a frank and open discussion of feelings, perceived threats, and reasonable precautions. It is best to perceive this as a ‘discussion’, rather than as an ‘argument’, ‘cuz you ain’t gonna win it. She needs to carry that which she perceives the need to carry, and probably already does so. Women are probably better at ‘survival’ than men are: on the average, they live longer.

(This material reflects the opinion of the author, and not that of the management of his home or of any member of his family. These are generalizations, and do not apply to any particular person of any gender. Any use of these observations in real-life applications will be solely at the risk of the user).

Lucky me, I have the perfect wife. She believes in having "stuff" stored "just in case," will let me buy any toy I want, likes it when I carry my concealed handgun, has her own little Cold Steel Mini-pal on her keyring, etc etc etc. She does make me watch my salt intake, etc, also, just trying to keep me around for a few more years...

on the subject of carry on items...

can a guy put a knife, like an LMF2 in a 'check in bag'?
Not a carry on.

Best of my knowlege, yes you can. I have flown a few times for work (god knows you can't make me for "leisure", too fustrating) and never had a problem with my multi-tool du jour or pocket knife I want to clip to my pocket when I get there. However I MUST stress be aware of the knife laws of where you are flying to! Here in Florida I have no problem carring a 4" bladed floder, when I went to Chicago according to the research I did I could only carry up to a 3" bladed knife so I had to choose a different one from what I normally carry.

-Bill Liptak

I checked a knife from Ohare through Jackson on my family's Yellowstone/Teton trip, but I didn't have a lot of faith that it wouldn't get snatched by whoever might look through the bag(s), so for that trip my trusty Ritter MK1 & MK3 got replaced by my daughter's lower cost Kabar Folding Spearpoint (still an amazing knife for just $20). It did the trick for what I needed.

I also checked the Vaseline-coated cotton balls, as I didn't want to have to explain what they were for.

Everyone in the family carried on-board daypacks w/:

<>Two 55 gallon orange trash bags
<>signal mirror
<>Storm (adults) or Windstorm (kids) whistle
<>Princeton Tec EOS headlamp w/ fresh batteries
<>Ponchos
<>Fleece jackets

In addition, I carried:

<>ACR TerraFix PLB w/ on-board GPS
<>Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx w/ City Navigator, 100K Topo, & 24K National Park Topo mapsets. I also brought a 12V power cord so that batteries were saved for when really needed.
<>Brunton 15TDCL Compass (the kids didn't bring compasses - I wanted them to stay put if lost).
<>Sparker w/ PJ-coated cotton balls (wasn't sure the sparker would get through checked security, but it did; the cotton balls were sent with checked luggage).

I should have had everyone also carry bandanas, but it didn't happen. Unfortunately the whole matches/lighter thing is so confusing with airline security that we just bought matches after we got there and stored them in a plastic bag.

Ken K.

I ziptie my Leatherman Kick to an interior brace inside my checked bag. It's gone 5-7 trips this way without being stolen. However, I'm not brave enough to try it with my LM Wave.

-Blast

I take my 'wave' with me on all my air trips, but put it inside a spare pair of shoes in my checked bag. It's made it back and forth on more than a dozen trips with no issues to date. I keep my Fenix P1D flashlight on my belt (just take it off to get through security and then it goes back on).

That's because they already carry a survival container with them, a purse. They are "trained, conditioned, whatever..." to always have "those things and these things with them". It just expands over time. Sometimes by default; never emptying the thing or by design.

2 cents

My gal works as a holiday rep in Mallorca & carries quite afew useful odds & sods in her purse/bag (Some Louis Vuitton "monstrosity" costing £700!!).
Apart from all the usually "girly" stuff, she has bottled water, little first aid kit, sewing kit, spare undies, Minidisc player & minidiscs & Im pleased to say that she DOES carry the items I gave her:-
Fauxton, whistle, glowring on keys
LED light (Nuwai clone) in her bag, Swisscard in her bag.
I recently added one of those silk traveller sleeping bags & Im told shes used that quite alot whilst travelling overnight on coaches between resorts & venues.
She thought the idea of EDC was a bit "geeky" at first until I suggested tat she already EDC'd quite a bit of stuff.