Recommendations for carry-on survival gear

Good day all,

It's been a while since I've written here on this site.

I'm flying to the UK this weekend for two weeks. My plan is to check my neck knife and my gerber; but I'm looking for some recommendations on what to take as carry-on inside the aircraft.

I intend on doing some light outdoor stuff while I'm there (geocaching, dayhiking, etc), but the bulk of my personal survival kit will travel in my luggage in the bottom of the aircraft.

Currently, I'm thinking that I'm going to carry a small compass, and a whistle, but, really, that's all I can think of that's legal and useful.

The only other thing is to hope and pray that the aircraft just doesn't go down! Haha!

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Also, does anyone know what the legalities are of wearing a Gerber Multi-tool or a neck-knife as everyday carry over in the UK?

I really never understood the point of EDC on an airplane. The way I look at it, I've got about 2-3 hours between on and off the plane. If anything happens in that time, I'm in an airport. If anything happens on the plane, it's a contained environment. So... not like I need to signal help, build a fire, skin a squirrel. And if the plane crashes your SOL anyway, right?

OK, so, to answer your question and get off my soapbox... compass, whistle, you could probably take a mag bar for fire lighting purposes. Paracord, wire, a light, extra batteries, some food, water, ID, spare cash. A blanket if you get cold. Pretty much if you search for "EDC" and take the knife and multitool out of the equation, you're safe. Check with the TSA website, I've heard that matches may be OK lately. You MIGHT be able to get one of the Swiss tool 'key' item onto your keychain and sneak it on board. Or not.

No idea about Brit laws on knives. I suppose you could just carry a beer mug around and use it as a blunt-force instrument.

Are you flying from the United States to the UK or somewhere else? When I fly I wear a "safari" style vest and in the pockets I keep:
1. compass
2. whistle
3. AMK Heatsheet
4. gum
5. 20' of paracord
6. small first aid kit (bandaids, asiprin, imodium, antihistamine, antibacterial wipe)
7. book
8. tiny MP3/FM radio thingy
9. ear plugs
10. small pack of handiwipes
11. toilet seat covers
12. Signal mirror
13. Fresnel lens
14. two bottles of water (purchased after going through security)
15. High-energy snacks
16. dog tags (around neck)
17. fingernail clippers
18. pen
19. pencil
20. small pad of paper
21. deck of cards
22. small, single AA LED flashlight

Most of this stuff is comfort items in case I get stranded in an airport. My understanding is lighters are allowed back on board but haven't tested that yet.

-Bllast

I'd focus on long-trip comfort items: warm sweater, book to read, water bottle, granola bars, etc.

Guess I take a different approach. To me, it's about playing the odds. And as I understand it, there are things you can do to tip things in your favour.

The clothing you wear is your primary EDC. It may be the only thing you have, inside the aircraft and out. Insulation is good; flammable is bad.

Second are a few tools that could help you get out. A good bright flashlight, paramedic shears to cut that stuck seatbelt (or your spouse's), sturdy shoes/boots with treads to get you out SAP (and don't kid yourself: in a burning plane, everyone's an SOB, and people push, claw, and climb, -- it's ugly, primal, and predictable).

Third, it's stuff that buys you some time if and when you get out. Clothing first; first aid; signalling; water, shelter, fire; and so on.

That's what little I know. It ain't much, but it makes sense to me.

On the Benchmade site I saw a pocket knife they make exclusively for the UK. Apparently folding knives the in UK cannot have a locking mechanism so instead they configured it to take a little extra force to close it. I can't seem to find it on their site right now but if I do I'll post a link. Having said that, I personally carry my little spyderco ladybug wherever I go. Its pretty non threatening and easy to hide in your checked baggage so baggage handlers don't steal it.

I believe carrying locking folders or fixed blades is forbidden.

Non-locking folders under 3" are OK.

Please double check, be careful, enjoy the trip and have a Fuller's for me...

The way I look at it, there's pretty much no situation where I'll be exposed to the elements, as it were. Any jumbo jet going down is pretty much toast; with very few exceptions 100 tons at 500 mph is a lot of energy to dissipate on impact. So, yeah, wear good clothes, shoes, etc, but nothing out of the ordinary, because it's one of the few places so predictable. I suppose you could get stranded for a few days at the airport (mainly if you've got layovers), but that's again comfort stuff, not survival. And on the off chance the plane goes down and you survive, well, there's a ton of blankets, probably food, and a LOT of luggage to rummage through to find stuff you'll need. And probably bodies to scrounge off of as well.

Any burning plane is most likely on the ground. Which means there's a good chance my belt isn't fastened. And if it is, I'm still thin enough to slip out if I pull it out all the way Though I HAVE been guilty of carrying shears, my stethoscope, and some other stuff in the plane, but only when I don't check my luggage!

So, really, the plane part of a trip is something I just don't do anything for. Food, something to drink, my MP3 or laptop, gum. But that's every plane ride, not really "survival."

I respect your point of view; you make some good points.

A recent flight to/from Vancouver/Hawaii rather underscores what you say. On a fully loaded 767, which is a flying sardine can if you ask me, the options for helping yourself are pretty limited. The primary threat was dehydration -- despite all efforts, I was 50% beef jerky when we landed.

On the other hand, I hop enough short-haul regional carriers, turboprops and 737s, where I can at least see the exits. If I'm conscious and can move, that's where I'm headed, green belt pack wrapped around my arm.

You wouldn't deny me my little green security blanket, would you?

Comfort hell! I’d rather be stuck in the woods.

Ironbird,

Being a Brit and living in France I fly between the two regular, see some of Martins posts for flights gear and travel are very useful.

To be sure, stash all of you gear in the hold. British security can be and are a pain. If they see you toting a safari type vest packed with " survival" gear count on being escorted out of the line to explain yourself and your equipment and why you feel the need to take it on board. If you happen to miss your flight...oops sorry just doing our job.

You can carry a neck knife, but if a copper see you with it, big no-no, virtualy no knife is legal, even SAK's are frowned upon unless you can convince the copper in question that it's really a multitool to keep in case your bike breaks down or something. Standing next to a bike at the time helps,.. if there's no bike find another story FAST.

More practical in your kit is to prepare for long stays and waits in the airport. Good books, warm clothes, plenty of cash for drinks. All drinks even water purchased outside the airport must consumed or thrown away before passing into departures, count on the prices being high. 50cl of Evian £1.50 ($3). We had to wait over 3 hours for a scheduled flight for Paris and had both our children with us, forunately the wife and I were equipped for such occassions.

Other than that you'll be fine

Any other Brits in the forum want to chip in?

As a UK resident - an SAK is fine as EDC, as is any sub 3" non locking folder. Other blades can be carried with good reason, and discretion and context help a lot - a mora packed in a rucksack while hiking is probably OK, a locking Leatherman in a crowded city pub at 11pm, probably not.

It is a stupid law, but it IS the law and for that reason I find an SAK, with it's ubiquitous red plastic scales and non-threatening appearance is a good choice.

Regarding carry-on - food and water are a good idea, the right clothes help. I'd also suggest the two principal tools for urban survival are a light (e.g. a photon) and a whistle. Gets you found and guides you out. Some OTC meds (painkillers, anti-spasmodic, anti-histamine) are also pretty handy.

Bigreddog,

Quoting from experience, some coppers have told me to leave the SAK at home, your right that context helps. But when you EDC a SAK it's just that, it's with you all the time, even if that happens to be near closing time in the RED LION. Hence an off-duty copper saw me with a SAK opening a bottle in a Pub and gave me the " Just a friendly warning - son" speech meaning; next time I see that it's mine and your nicked.

So the SAK and other tools stay in the car outside the pub and any bottles will just have to be opened by the blond barmaid and no one else ; )

Stokie

Good clothes and shoes, try and stay away from fabrics that MELT. The big things for me? Buy a bottle of water post the checkpoint. I carry my little PSK - you know, my photon, some bandaids, some cash, a set of my prescription drugs, some advil, some imodium etc. Basically, the stuff you go to the medicine cabinet for at home

Don’t try to take anything through airport security you don’t want to lose. Put it into your checked luggage. Then hope that your luggage arrives.

Regulations are well posted but everything depends on the subjective opinion of the security crew. Many do not know or follow the rules. [I would not want their job!]

The odds are that your checked baggage will arrive.

As MDinana states, the odds of needing survival gear in the event of an airliner crash is slim, both from the crash happening and, if it does, being able to use any of your stuff.

Blasts suggestions for airport survival are great and will probably serve you well,

As a suggestion, I wear cotton long sleeve pants and shirts instead of polyester [plastic] clothing for fire prevention. I pay attention to the F/A safety briefing and study the card on every flight so I instinctively know where the exits are.

If I were very paranoid, I would carry a smoke hood . . . but the odds don’t warrant it.

Bottom line, once you onboard, it’s pretty much out of your hands.

A flashlight or two is probably prudent. Ibuprofren, Tylenol, and an antacid/antigas medicine are an imperative on long flights. If your plane should fall down crossing the north Atlantic, I would think that there's really nothing you can reasonably take with you that would mitigate that sort of exposure.

As far as the Brits go, the enforcement of their tote laws is so interpreted that I would not carry any knife unconcealed in public. Maybe out in the countryside, but I just don't trust the bobbies judgement.

Are you thinking of the spyderco uk knife. As you say a knife must be under 3 inches and none locking. So most multitools are technically illegal. But there have been a few cases of arrests being thrown out in court. Though technically the police were right. But technically no one could ever get a kitchen knife home from the supermarket. the police roundly ridiculed for it. You'd be unlucky to be convicted.
simon

Difficult isn't it :-)

I carry very small SAK as EDC on my key ring, and a regular SAK when I'm in jeans. But the law does state specifically that you don't need to justify carrying a folding, sub 3in slipjoint. So I think they would be hard pressed to make any charges stick. Of course, that presumes you can be bothered to go through the process with them, and that they don't go with it as a non-specific 'weapon' (carrying anything specifically as a weapon in illegal)

I'm comfortable carrying a SAK in the UK, the only place I won't is if I know they are doing searches (because it is a hassle - Wembley recently for example). I wouldn't carry the Spyderco very often, because it looks 'tactical' and that might influence coppers differently.

But it is something you need to weigh up for yourself.

I fly a fair amount in the States and routinely carry-on a AMK PSP, Heatsheet and SureFire E2L in my backpack without any problems.

I do not think that they allow 550 cord however and I know from experience that they wouldn't allow a partial roll of gaffers tape on board. ("It could be used to tie someone up.")

International flights might be more restrictive.

Mike

As I respect yours. And, by all means, keep your security blanket! My airport blanket is my backpack, with the afore-mentioned items. Food, water, gum, clothes. Cell phone and flight itinerary too.

I haven't had a problem, but it is braided into decorative keyfobs and the such.

-Blast

By the way, Stokie,

Without getting to political, I thought you'd like to know that on my last visit to the UK, my dreaded Leatherman Wave tool attracted the attention of your numbskull law enforcement types. Not only was I annoyed, my property was - in my opinion - stolen by your government agents.

When it came time for us to open a European office, we left the UK out of the running because we just can't abide such a ninny-nanny environment.

I believe the notion that "if the plane crashes, you die" is a myth. Even fatal airline crashes usually have at least one survivor; in the Sioux City disaster, almost two-thirds of the passengers, and all but one of the crew, survived, even though the jumbo jet was nothing but a big ball of flame tumbling end over end down the runway.

I can think of a couple of airline crashes where there were no fatalities. I read about one in Alaska where the turboprop plane lost both engines due to ice crystals in the fuel line, and had to land on a frozen lake. Passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft and had to walk half a mile to shore in temperatures of -30. Fortunately, it was pre-9/11 and the passengers were mostly oil-rig workers on their way back to work, so everyone was "dressed to survive".

There was an Airbus "computerized" plane that went down in the Alps when one of the pilots typed in a 3.0 degree slope on the computer, not realizing that it was a "dual-purpose display" which also controlled the rate of descent. In that mode, what he had actually done was to type in a descent rate of 3000 feet per minute. Since the only indicator was a tiny red light and the absence of a decimal point, needless to say they weren't able to figure out their mistake in the 75 seconds they had left before hitting the side of a French Alp. (I understand the flight deck instruments have been redesigned since then. ;-) )

It took authorities several hours to find the crash site; in fact, it was a reporter for a local radio station who found the site and called for assistance. Quite a few people survived the crash, although many were badly injured; I believe several of them succumbed to the freezing temperatures waiting for rescue to arrive.

I think the chances of ever being involved in an airline crash of any sort, let alone something like the above, are so remote that I can safely leave it off my list of "the top 100 things I worry about dying from". But I have a key on my keyring which is a blank, with five Ronson lighter flints crazy-glued to it, and a short length of clear plastic shrink tubing around it. The key fob has a steel attachment which will strike a spark, and I have a laminated first aid card in my wallet with two or three cotton balls laminated to the back of it (almost invisible against the white card, as it turns out). I've taken these through security maybe a dozen times, and no-one has ever given them a second glance. (I don't do it to "fool security", by the way - it's simply a convenient way for me to carry a basic fire-starting kit on an everyday basis.)

You can also get a small bottle of that alcohol-based hand sanitizer stuff (Purell, or one of the knock-off brands) which is pretty good firestarter and will probably make it through with your perfume/aftershave, toothpaste, and shaving cream in a 1 litre plastic back. I haven't tried that, though.

I'm not sure I'm following just what your question is. Carry-on suggests one thing to me, and carrying a compass doesn't seem to make sense as being useful in the cabin under any circumstance I can think of. A whistle makes sense, as you can blow it if you're trapped in a cabin - whistles last longer than your vocal cords and are better heard. A flashlight so you can see and be seen if the cabin is filled with smoke or other vapor. I carry a Swiss Tech Micro, which is a pliers with screw drivers in the grips - it's made it through X-ray scans for years without comment, and it's handy for putting the screw back into the earpiece when it falls off my glasses (did it yesterday, in fact). My pocket knife is in my checked baggage. I also carry pen and paper for keeping track of things that might come in handy, things we forgot and should have on a list, good restaurants, phone numbers, and such.

I'm sure I'm missing the real question. How is it that you propose to use the compass?

As others have said, my wife and I carry band-aids, OTC pain- and gas-killers, books and water. We also have flashlights and whistles, 2-way radios, books, water, and the like. She carries a blindfold because she doesn't sleep well in lighted areas.

We both also carry a couple of days' worth of clothes in our carry on, along with any medicine we need, cameras, passports, hotel & car-rental confirmations, tickets for whatever we have tickets for - basically everything we need assuming our checked bags won't arrive. (I wear a photographer's vest which is essentially another carry on bag disguised as clothing.)

You're going to Britain, so this won't apply; we fly to the Caribbean, and I always carry 2 or 3 folding fans (the hand-powered kind you fan yourself with) because we board planes that have been standing in the tropical sun and sit there while they finish loading the luggage (for other passengers, of course - the people on earlier flights - our luggage is loaded onto later planes :->) with propeller engines off for the safety of the ground crew.

As with others, our major survival issues have been (a) laying around the airport because the plane didn't arrive and won't and the island has no other means of escape or (b) none of our checked bags made it to our destination and the airline is telling us "your luggage will be on the next flight down," but the flights are WEEKLY, "well, that won't be a problem, will it?" (I can think of a use or two for the compass in those situations, but they're not exactly survival.)

Thanks to all. I appreciate the input, and I have much to think about!

Thanks again.

Iron

Flashlight, always useful. Compass and whistle, they probably won't even see it. A small FAK, with labelled meds. Some duct tape (lifeview's inspector not withstanding) on a coffee stirrer or pen. Photocopy of your ID, the numbers for the consulates and embassy.

A phrase book- the English speak funny. :P

Martin,

No problem, I understand your point and that of bigreddog, it all depends on the plod you meet. Some actually use some common and exercise good judgement. I hope my appearance is that of an upright citizen who doesn't attract too much attention so "normally" there's no reason to incurr the curiosity of the local constabulary. The incident I stated happened in a Pub, the Officier was off duty (if such can ever be the case...serving officiers on the forum can voice an opinion.) in his local, maybe he'd a bad day or something. But in short I had a lecture..true he did nothing about it, but a lecture I got all the same.

Too bad about your leatherman, I can understand, really. I fly between England and France, both sides have no love for the other, at least when going through airport security, I've seen it all on both sides.

Best experience was in Poland. I'd forgotten my PST in my briefcase. It was found, I confessed, they accepted my comments. I was escorted by guards, to the seat on the plane. I was wished a pleasant flight. The stewardess hand back the PST when I arrived in Paris. End of story. Now if it had been on the outbound you can bet your last pound that it would have been confiscated, afterall the last time they took my sliver gripper because it had a point.

I fly quite a bit so here are my $0.02 on teh subject.

1. Realisticly evaulate what your expecting. A trans-atlantic flight we are talking about a crash in to the North Atlanic. If you survive the crash itself your in 33*F water, odds of actually hitting land are slim to none.

2. Next you have to think about what would help you survive against what you can actually carry and would be practicle. A survival suit would keep you alive in the water but it isn't very practile to fly in.

3. Security restrictions. Don't even try and sneek something past TSA. The odds of a plane crash are far, far less than you getting busted by TSA.


So what do I carry?

A Camelbak MULE- (empty through security and then I fill it up inside teh terminal) Water is always number 1.

My keys- on which I carry an LED light and a P-38 can opener. In worst case I can always sharpen the edge on teh P-38 to make it a cutting tool.

A jacket and some clothes in teh camelbak.

Some food stuffs in the camelbak.

Small first aid kit- Lets be realistic, this more than likely isn't going to much use for trumatic plane crash type injuries but good for minor ones.

Book of matches picked up inside the airport post secuirity as well.

I don't carry a compass or land nav stuff because I have no intention of leaving teh crash site.

That way I figure I have water, food, means to make fire, minor elimental protection, minor first aid, a light, and means to create a cutting tool or open cans if needed.

Reminds of the stand up comic's story about flying in stormy weather when the plane loses an engine. The fella next to him turns in a panic and says "Do you think we'll make it back to the airport?"

The comic replys, "Don't worry, this plane will take us all the way to the site of the crash".

If you really want to carry a fixed blade in the UK, you could always wear the kilt.

From Wikipedia:

Hi WScott,

Robbie the Pict used to carry his Scottish Broadsword as carry on gear before the restrictions on what was allowed and what was not allowed on International Flights. I don't know about today though.



Robbie the Pict.

I would still argue that this is pretty much the worst attitude you could have if you were ever so unfortunate as to be involved in an airliner crash. I've heard studies that many survivors of disasters turned out to be the ones who went on board with at least some sort of action plan in mind.

Maybe for overland flights your odds fare better, but the statistics for transatlantic flights do not support your optimism. I know of no water crashes on commercial flights with any survivors.

Though the odds of a catastrophic event in commercial aircraft flying over the north Atlantic are highly unlikely, the outcome seems even more certain when such an event does occur. It doesn't seem to matter what plans get made. Once the crash in the water up there is inevitable, the outcome is pretty much going to be permanent.

I favour the "be prepared" philosophy rather than the "give up" philosophy. You don't say where you will be flying from or what route you'll take, but at least some of it will be over land. Air plane crashes vary a lot. If the pilot has some control they might be able to divert to land, or to put down on the water relatively gently. So it is worth taking what you can.

You will probably need to have it in your pockets, as you shouldn't expect to carry your hand-luggage off during an emergency evacuation. Pay close attention to the safety briefing - for example, the best crash position varies between aircraft. Remember that you release a car seatbelt by pushing, and an aircraft seatbelt by lifting (people have died from getting this wrong). Don't assume the briefing will be repeated if there's an actual emergency. There may not be time. The pilot may be too busy to keep the cabin crew informed.

Make a plan. Count the number of rows from your seat to the nearest exit in front and behind you. There should be strip lighting on the floor which changes colour at an exit, but that's not much use if the aircraft is upside down and full of smoke.

Other people have given good advice for what to carry. I'd emphasis good footware, clothing, water, and a light or two.

Personally I take a smart-phone with a lot of e-Books on it, plus one or two paper books (that don't need batteries and don't make the cabin crew nervous). Also, since you mention geocaching, it can be fun to take a GPS unit on board. Last time I went skiing I took my GpsMap60Cx, which got good signal inside the plane and on which I had loaded maps of the plane's path.

No, you can carry knives if you have a good reason. "Self-defence" isn't a good reason, but taking home one you've just bought is.

Is there any truth to what I've heard -- that of course nothing is worn under a kilt ... because if one were wearing underwear underneath, it would be a skirt and not a kilt?

I carry 12-inch long heavy-duty plastic cable ties on-board all the time. I've never been questioned about them -- but they are of course (ahem) to secure the zippers on my soft-sided luggage, instead of messing around with those fakakta TSA-approved padlocks.

here's what i carry whenever i fly. it's all legal as carry-on and if I survive the crash should keep me from becoming carrion.

emergency poncho
tube tent
emergency blanket
50ft 550 cord
Swedish flint
butane Bic lighter(legal again, horray! ^_^)
bandanna
large Nalgene bottle
steel cup fit on bottom of Nalgene
small PFAK. (band-aids, single sized advill, alka seltzer, pepcid, pepto, imodium, benadryl, week of Rx meds, gauze pads, med tape, small folding scissors)
Wild Cards (deck of playing cards printed with pics and descriptions of edible plants)
Howler whistle
2 pairs of extra socks
two pairs extra underwear
iPod
laptop
Inova X1 with one extra battery
dogtag in my boot
two good books

It all fits in the detachable pouch on my Breakaway Bag. The evil, terrorist aiding Leatherman and Altoids PSK are in the main pack with my clothes as Checked Luggage.
I've yet to be stopped for the Swedish flint. the steel striker for the flint could be sharpened on a rock, as could the stainless steel ID tag attached to my carry on. The blanket and tent would serve well for signaling as well as shelter. This is ETS so i won't go into the paracord.

I understand your point here, but one of the only reasons I check bags any more is to pack survival gear such as a knife and multi-tool. As a frequent traveller, however, my instincts are to NOT check luggage because it so frequently gets lost or, at a minimum, delayed. To me, that's when it really matters what you have in your carry-on. More than once I've been stuck in a LaQuinta Inn near an airport with only what I had in my carry-on. That's when I'm happy to have at least the bare minimum with me. So while I agree with you that an hour or two in an airport doesn't warrant extensive gear-obsessing, an hour or two often turns into an involuntary sleepover.

In reply to your question about undergarments. I and several friends were invited to a Scotish wedding. We were all expected to wear the traditional costume. Preparations were made that this French contingent including myself would be equipped with said costume at a reputable outfitters in Glasgow.

The day before the happy day the troup set off to the aforementioned outfitters. Each was presented with the appropriate kit and like you the question was asked and the reply was.....nothing.

So picture if you will 15 Frenchmen and one Brit standing proudly in the church grounds waiting for the ceremony to begin and praying ferverently for the wind to stop blowing and the that the Scots to stop smiling at us in that " first time in a kilt" kind of way ; )

All the ladies on the forum will understand that I never realised how cold a church bench can be until your wear a kilt.

I have a picture somewhere, which I could obviously NOT post here, showing the Queen of England, sitting along with a whole bunch of guys in some type of uniform, including kilts. The guy right next to her has his "stuff" proudly displayed (altho, in my humble opinion, he had nothing to be proud of), for all the world to see. Maybe, in his defense, his chair was cold too...

I dunno... this kind of proves my point. You crash, and you survive, you've got a big honking storage container under you. You're sitting on the world's largest signal fire (ever seen a plane actually crash? The smoke is impressive). those folks that froze, it sucks. I don't know if they tried scrounging, but I have to wonder why they didn't move closer to that burning wreck.

For the Souix City (and wasn't there a NYC water landing a few years ago?) or that flight in the Everglades about 10 years ago... you're crashed at the end of the runway. What the heck do you need there? A fire extinguisher? You sure don't need a fire starter, signal mirror, whistle, paracord. Again, you're on a big freaking signal to rescuers. A knife would be useful if you need to get out of that seatbelt, I admit. Perhaps a P-38 or P-51 would be useful, if allowed.

Can't see why you'd need any land nav. gear. Why leave the crash site? Unless you've crashed your Cessa, there's a good chance they'll find your plane.

BTW, I do know of one jumbo water landed and had significant survivors. Again, though, fairly close to rescue. Like others have said, you crash mid-atlantic, you're pretty much re-running the Titanic disaster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2QjWNRlDVw

Hmmm - I'm not sure how I "proved [your] point" since your point was that if the airliner crashes, you die - which simply isn't true. Maybe I misunderstood.

I've never seen an actual airliner crash, but I've seen the footage of the Sioux City crash. There was a huge fireball, but there was little or no "burning wreckage" after the first couple of minutes. The Arrow Air disaster in Gander, Newfoundland (where, admittedly, everyone did die) had no "burning wreckage", according to the reports I've read; in fact, I can't remember reading about an airline crash which produced a long-lasting fire. What airline crash have you seen where the airplane carcass burned for hours afterward? And would a huge bonfire really be effective at warming injured survivors?

Much of an airliner's fuel is carried in the wings, anyway, and those are very likely to break off on impact. Hence the huge but brief fireball witnessed in the Sioux City crash.

You have a very good point - most airliner accidents occur during the takeoff and landing phase. Even the ones that don't, such as Sioux City (which resulted from a catastrophic failure in flight) the pilots are going to try everything possible to make it to an airport. So if you are in an airliner crash, and you survive, there's a very good chance that you'll be found within minutes. However, that's not guaranteed.

Personally, to the extent that I worry about being in an airline crash at all, my main priorties would be (a) first aid for the injured, and (b) basic fire-starting and possibly shelter-construction for a couple of hours. I can't see rescue taking longer than that, except maybe in a Tom Hanks stranded-on-a-desert-island worst-case scenario. If you're flying on some South American airliner in the Andes or over the Bolivian jungle, then I'd be a little more concerned about the long-term survival issue, of course.

I always carry on my key chain a BSA Hot Spark metal alloy rod, a poker chip shaped thing that has a piece of steel imbedded in it (I use steel for striker and for knife sharpening), a whistle, and a pill fob that has 3 "spark-lite" tinders in it. My work has me in remote areas sometimes and this is minimal, along with my pocket knife, incase I get stranded.

Anyway, I have flown several times with this keychain (the knife goes in checked luggage but I do carry scissors in my carry-on) and have never had TSA take a second look at the keychain.

The best I could find was this one:

6 August 2005; Tuninter ATR72; near Palermo, Italy: The aircraft was on an unscheduled international flight from Bari, Italy to Djerba, Tunisia when the aircraft reportedly developed engine trouble. The crew ditched the aircraft off the coast of Palermo. The aircraft had been on a scheduled domestic flight from Kish Island in the Persian Gulf.
Two of the four crew members and 14 of the 35 passengers were killed.

But most of the fatal airline accidents I could find where people survived involved the aircraft hitting short of the runway or landing long, too fast, or on the wrong runway and running off the end.

http://www.airsafe.com/events/last_15.htm

It's not a deep water landing but didn't one go down on take-off/landing in the Potomac in the late 70's or early 80's?

Edit: Added link

Whenever I fly to the UK/Scotland which is several times a year (my wife is from Glasgow) I always get stopped and pulled aside for my EVAC-U8 smoke hood. TSA doesn't give it a second look but for some reason UK security doesn't like it. If it ever gets taken away from my I'm going to be pretty upset since they don't make the EVAC-U8 anymore.

There's a reason for that... http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=65327&an=

Air Gabon crash, previously mentioned on this forum

I'm familiar with the recall and the reasons why. But to my knowledge there is not a small and portable unit on the market. I'm still willing to take my chances with the EVAC-U8.