The Woodsman's Journal Online: Winter Survival for Tommy...Part Three©

If you asked ten pilots when they would least like to be stranded in the wilderness, most would say winter. And remember, depending on where you are, winter, can be year round. A car or plane crash is a frightening, traumatic experience, do you know what to do? For answers read Part Three of this five parts series, Part Two is HERE – Author’s Note.

Remember, STAY close to the wreckage; it may be hard to see, but it is far easier to see it, than it is to see a single person.

A crashed plane less than 900 feet (275 meters) below, would you have spotted it? Published in Air & Space Magazine, March 2008, photograph by Michael Behar, HERE.

Third, call for help, as soon as possible after the injured are cared for and everyone is sheltered from the wind and weather.

Whether you were in a car accident, or a plane wreck, as soon as all medical emergencies are cared for and everyone is temporally sheltered from the weather, pull out your cell phone, providing it is still working, and call for help. If your phone is broken, DON’T throw it away, you can use it for other survival chores later.

An excerpt from “Survive: Beyond the Forced Landing”, by the Air Safety Institute, AOPA, HERE.

If you are in a plane crash here is the good news, 35 years ago a law was passed requiring virtually all aircraft in the United States to carry an emergency locator transmitter or ELT, this beacon is activated by a hard jolt, such as a plane crash and immediately begins to transmit. ELTs come in either the older analog 121.5 megahertz model or newer digital 406 megahertz model. Radio direction finders, carried by search planes or ground based searchers can zero-on these emergency signals.

The newer 406 models, with an optional GPS unit, can give searchers a fix on the ELTs location in 5 to 15 minutes, although without the optional GPS unit, it might take three or more hours. ELTs are installed inside the plane near the tail, where they have the best chance of surviving the crash, their exterior antennas are mounted on top of the fuselage.

Now for the bad news, a NASA study showed that in 75% of plane crashes in which an older model 121.5 megahertz ELT was involved, the transmitter or their antenna were disabled or destroyed on impact or by the subsequent fire and never activated. And now for even more bad news, even if the ELT survives the plane crash and its antenna is intact, it can’t transmit if it is upside down, underwater, or in dense foliage. Now for the worse news, 90% of all ELTs installed in aircraft in the United States are the older 121.5 models. And because of their unreliability, as of February 1, 2009, this frequency is no longer being kept under observation by the multi-national organization charged with monitoring ELT transmissions!⁹ So, in the case of an airplane crash, DO NOT assume that your ELT is working and that its signals are being received.

For more on calling for help and signals in general read “The Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skills...Number Eight©”, HERE.

An excerpt from “Improvising for Survival”, FAA General Aviation News, January-February 1987, HERE.

Fourth, once you are certain that there is no chance of fire, or the fire is out, it is time to approach the wreck to see what you can use to help you survive.

First look for a radio or a SPOT Satellite Messenger (HERE) or another similar device. If there is a working radio, or SPOT unit, use it to alert emergency personnel as soon as possible. The sooner you can get emergency services activated, the sooner they can begin looking for you.

Your second concern is shelter, and clothing has been described as “shelter close to the body”. Clothing keeps you warm by trapping your body’s radiated heat with dead air space and it protects you from the wet and wind. Extra clothing, if available, should be passed out to anyone in need, as soon as possible.

The actual survival gear found in wrecked plane or car is usually determined by its driver/pilot/owner, and the quantity will vary. However, in the case of planes flying over Alaska or the “sparsely settled” areas of Canada, the minimum survival gear is set by law. Alaska requires as a minimum, depending on the season, that an airplane carries, enough food for each occupant for one week, an axe, a first-aid kit, fishing tackle, a knife, some type of fire starter, etc., all sealed in metal containers. Additionally, for flights between October 15th to April 1^st of each year, the law requires a pair of snowshoes, one sleeping bag and one wool blanket for each occupant over four¹⁰.

Improvisation -- a Survivor’s Most Valuable Asset

Once you have found and inventoried all the survival gear in the wreck, it is time to improvise for survival!

Use your imagination, the wreckage and luggage of either a plane or a car are full of resources that can help you.

With a car wreck, the hubcaps, the car’s battery, that flashlight in the glove box, the car seats, car mats, the hood, wire, tires which can be burned to produce black smoke, gasoline, oil, wires, that Altoids® tin, etc., can all be used to help you survive.

“I used the lid from an Altoids can, reaching through an opening in the cockpit and flashing it”, Dennis Steinbock, Air & Space Magazine, March 2008

Plane wrecks are similar and are full of potential survival tools. Ailerons can be used as snow cutting tools, brake fluid that can be used as a fire starter, cables as cordage, disk brake plates as a signaling mirrors, the engine cowl as a snow shovel or fire reflector, the nose cone as a fire pot, wing sections, fuselage skin, charts and maps, doors, seat belts, vertical stabilizers that can be used as a platform or shelter support, the air filter that can be used as a fire starter, and etc.

Even a busted up cell phone can be used to create a fire by short circuiting the battery and creating a red hot wire that can ignite dry tinder, such as tampon cotton, #000 steel wool, toilet paper, or other fine and dry materials. Behind the phone’s screen is a shiny surface, which can be used as an improvised signal mirror, and the flexible wire of the headphones can be used cordage¹¹.

Oh, as you find supplies, if the weather is stormy, with drifting snow and wind, take care that they are not lost, damaged or blown away.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Winter Survival for Tommy...Part Four©”, where we will talk about getting out of the wet and the wind and finding shelter.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Notes

⁹ “The Search for Steve Fossett: One tough job for the U.S. Civil Air Patrol”, by Michael Behar, Air & Space Magazine, March 2008

¹⁰ Legally to fly over any of the sparsely populated regions of Canada (areas north of 52 degrees North latitude) or Alaska the pilot must have certain minimum survival supplies on board.

For information about Alaska, read “Flying in Alaska”, HERE, for more information on both Alaska and Canada read “Alaskan & Canadian Survival Kit Regulations”, HERE, by Doug Ritter, one of the elder statesmen of aviation survival.

¹¹ “Survive With Your Cellphone”, by Creek Stewart

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