A smoke hood would be good to have, for both the flight and the hotel stay. Coupled with a small, bright flashlight, those two should let you safely evacuate either location in a timely fashion. A smoke hood that filters carbon monoxide would be best, but even one with an activated charcoal filter and a hood that protects your head from heat and flames is much better than nothing, and they usually store much more compactly than any hood capable of filtering CO. Brookdale's EVACpac is a nice combo.

Some sort of auxillary power for your cell phone, in case of extended stays at the airport or being put on hold for a long time to rebook a cancelled flight would be prudent. Someone recently posted a message on the Cellboost. The Charge2Go! would be another option.

Depending on how you dress on the plane, some warm clothing. Some cabins are colder than others and there aren't enough blankets. And your checked luggage might not make it, and you need to get to your hotel in winter weather.

Earplugs. Airports, airplanes, and hotels can be noisy places. Excess noise is distracting and gets on our nerves, hours of plane drone is tiring, and we all need our sleep. I love babies, but not screaming babies on airplanes. And what's with the love fest in the hotel room next to me? <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Headache medicine. I think it's the altitude that does it since I try to fly fully hydrated and drink lots of water on the flight. Cabins are only pressurized to what, 6,000 feet? If I have a headache, then I'm cranky and can't sleep well on the plane and the flight seems soooo long.

I think you will have a better signal than anything you can carry in your PSK, in that case. Like a plane that is smoking, if not burning, along with a great big honking scar in the earth where you went in. Keep in mind that commerical birds have redundent emergency beacons, and the crew would have announced thier sitution with thier location. And ATC would know where you went off the scope.

Dumping a commerical wide body is not the same as a little single engine in the Yukon. LOTS of people are going to notice. You do NOT need to have a full fledged PSK. Even if you did, what are you seriously going to be able to do with it. A PSK is the last ditch for one person, it's resources will be totally overwhelmed by this kind of thing.

That being said, an N95 mask should be on your person, along with a basic FAK and a good light, but that is so you can get out of the plane. Trust me, you go down in the EU or over CONUS, you will have a search starting before everyone is off the aircraft and you will be found in under an hour. As I said, commercial aircraft falling out of the sky are pretty hard to miss.

The only time the flight crew wouldn't be able to get a signal out is if the plane explodes or disintigrates in midair, and at that point, you have bigger problems. Like gravity.

I think if you dress decently and act in a civilized way and carry a SureFire E2e, you'll be fine.

On the other hand, if you dress like a biker and act in a suspicious manner, that innocent AA Maglite you've got will be confiscated.

-- Craig

In the remote wilderness in winter that may not be the case.

I'm wondering if the TSA would know what a smoke hood canister is or looks like. No recognition equals potential weapon/threat equals confiscation?

-- Craig

How remote are we talking? Unless you are taking a great circle route, the flight lanes, at least on the map, all look like they are fairly close to "civilization".

I heard of confiscations or opening them up to inspect the inside (and needlessly making the one-time-use hood worthless) in the first years after 9/11, so I never packed it then. But I took an EVAC-U8 on a plane not long ago with no problems. That's the only time I've flown with it since 9/11 and have not heard of any recent problems.

Actually, would activated charcoal be considered a flammable material and not allowed on the plane? The EVAC-U8 has an activated charcoal layer, as do most smoke hoods, and some masks/respirators. But c'mon, it can't be much of a hazard if you're putting it in something designed to be exposed to flames and high heat, right? *sigh* But you never know with the TSA.

You're welcome. It is a great thread. I learned a lot.



Please do. I'm looking forward to it.

-- Craig

That's just it. You never know. This could be urban legend, but I read of someone who had their EVAC-U8 declared an "aerosol" can and then confiscated. This despite the fact it has no nozzle or finger-plunger to press. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

-- Craig

The other problem is that those who are prepared are considered suspicous "Why do you need a evacuation hood in the plane?" "In case of a fire" "Why? Are you expecting one?"