Emergencies and emergency landings in an unexpected location are always risks faced by pilots. Hence a recent post written by Roger, the sailplane pilot blogger behind Roger’s Soaring Blog, where he wrote about what he carries in his so-called landout/survival kit is well worth reading.
According to Roger, there are three scenarios where a sailplane pilot (or for that matter, a general aviation pilot) could find themselves in need of a landout/survival kit. These scenarios include:
- A routine, safe land out on a remote airstrip, dry lake bed, or other flat place in the desert or mountains.
- A survivable crash.
- A bailout, due to collision or mechanical failure.
Roger then proceeded to outline each and every item he would carry in a main bag, a smaller bag, a Ziploc bag and a first aide kit – all together weighing about 4 pounds or 1.8 kg and only taking up 0.4 cubic feet of space in his aircraft. He also wrote that he always wears "cargo" pants while flying as they provide some additional pockets to put the small bag and additional items in that might be needed in a sailplane bailout scenario - another good piece of advice worth noting by all pilots.
The Israeli airforce's survival kit is a miracle of simplicity : A bottle of water and a clip-on foreskin.