darryl ramm’s blog

I carry a good amount of survival equipment in my glider. I carry mostly the same stuff with me whether flying near Hollister or out in Sierras or Great Basin. If you are flying dual with me, we only need one set of this stuff per aircraft, but the items here will give you some ideas for your own survival kit.

Survival Equipment Carried on the Parachute/Person

I carry the following in a large SMAK pack container from Silver Parachute on my parachute harness

• Hook knife/parachute shroud cutter
• Personal Location Beacon (PLB)
  I carry a McMurdo PLB Fast Find Plus that transmits GPS coordinates to SARSAT-COSPAR satelites on 406 MHz as well as having a low-power 121.5 MHz homing signal. The McMurdo PLBs are relatively low cost for what they do, around $500-$600, available from Marv Golden and other locations. The ACR AeroFix 406 is a competing unit with similar capabilities.
• Signal mirror
  Make sure it is plastic not glass. Available in the large SMAK Pack from Silver Parachute or from REI.
• Rescue whistle

BASA members can purchase their own SMAK pack from Silver Parachute and clip on a club parachute if they want.

I have a Long Softie parachute, the bottom “long” part is just padded with foam and you can pack flat items in there for storage. I store the following in the parachute

• Spare hat
• Sectional charts and road maps in a plastic bag
• Pocket knife
• Space blanket

In my cargo pants pockets I carry

• Spare eyeglasses
• Cell phone and emergency contact numbers
• Swiss army pocketknife

Items Carried in the Glider

• Water
  Water is likely critical in most survival situations. I typically fly with two 100 oz Camelbak Unbottles in the glider which is more than I’ll drink during a long flight. I also carry extra water in the survival kit below. Some people like to carry a large tall water container, the clear tall type you buy bottled water in. These provide backup drinking water in an emergency and are also you can crush in the top and use the container to lift a wing tip off the ground — useful where there is grass that could grab a wing tip and there is no one to run a wing.

• VHF handheld radio
  A broken tail boom during an land out would likely break the antenna coaxial cable and incapacitate the on-board VHF radio. So the iCOM A23 VHF handheld radio I fly with is not just convenient as a second radio for use in-air but is also a part of my survival gear. I also carry a spare battery pack (AAA batteries) for the handheld and an adapter cable to power the radio directly off the ships battery on the ground.

Survival Pack
I carry the following stuff packed in a large fanny pack that could be carried for hiking out needed.

• Strobe light
• 1 litre water
• Space blanket
• Small compass
• Power adapter for cell phone - allows cell phone to be plugged into a glider battery
• Power adapter for VHF handheld - allows cell phone to be plugged into a glider battery
• LED flash light
• Spare batteries for all devices
• Spare battery pack (takes AAA cells) for iCOM VHF handheld radio
• Suncream and lip sun protection balm
• Cyalume light sticks
• Matches or fire starter and tinder
• Critical medications (I suffer form allergies) allergy medications, oral antihistamines, inhaler, eppie pen.
• Very basic first aid items, bandaids, wound dressing/compresses, triangular bandages, roll bandage.

Tie Down Kit

I carry a “The Claw” kit with claws, stakes, small hammer, tie down ropes, and 1″ nylon straps for a tail tie down. The Claw is the best land-out tie down kit I’ve been able tot find and unlike the type that screw into the ground can be used in “California concrete” we often find, especially in summer, but yet can even hold in relatively loose dirt. Available from Wings and Wheels and Aircraft Spruce.

Future Things

My new ASH-26E glider will have an Artex ME-406/P Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) installed, that transmits a distress signal to SARSAT-COSPAR satellites similar to the PLB described above but is impact triggered and outputs at higher power on 406 MHz and 121.5 Mhz.

I’m am also considering carrying a Globalstar SP-1700 satellite phone in another SMAK pack container on my parachute harness. Mostly for flights in the Sierras and Great Basin where you can end up far from civilization and cell phone coverage.