Other items that we could use?

Started by Hummingbird, April 14, 2016, 05:44:00 PM

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Eclipse

1 - We're not talking about aircrew survival kits, this was in relation to them being in a GTM kit.

2 - If you want to take it to include CAP aircrew, and you factor in sorties vs. survivable crashes
with aircrew living in austere conditions for an extended period, it's literally statistically zero.

3 - The anecdote cited is a good example of a sortie that would probably never be released.
The stupid chances and bad decisions of non-CAP pilots are something that will serve to
amaze and amuse people for millennia, but not really relevent here, except that they give us
things to do.

If a nice $20 shopping mall "survival" knife with Bear's logo on it makes you feel safer, have at it.



"That Others May Zoom"

Holding Pattern

Quote from: Luis R. Ramos on April 16, 2016, 02:56:41 AM
Well, then, why don't we cut the list of knives, bows, saws, and plasma cutters and take, instead, two phasers like those issued by Starfleet?

Since we can set different power settings, we can have:

Low, stun for when we need a saw.
A little higher, for when we need to dig a hole for... a potty.
Full power for when we need a fire... Would make a huge bonfire in seconds!   ;D

The ORM on those things became ridiculous after some enterprising redshirt figured out how to set them to overload.

Add that to "Things Starfleet Auxiliary is no longer allowed to take on away missions..."

Live2Learn

Eclipse:  I respect your opinion (most times) and certain respect your experience.  However, in this instance I believe the logic behind your assertion of zero risk is seriously flawed.  CAP resources operate in all states, in all seasons, and on or over all types of terrain.  CAP ground teams go to the field in conditions that could easily worsen to the point that even a good FWD would have problems getting out.  Been there, done that.  In most western States at least some portions can experience freezing conditions and snow followed by warm temperatures at least nine (and often twelve months) of the year.  As far as air crew goes, engines are far less than perfect.  I know you have a high opinion of CAP maintenance.  I'm very glad you have had good experienced with same.  Based on my own experience with CAP aircraft I do not share your opinion.  A brief look at NTSB accident reports reveals that about once every year or two a CAP plane experiences an inflight maintenance issue that brings it to an unplanned, unintended off airport landing.  Fortunately CAP pilots, for the most part, can manage a bad situation.  If the same event occurs over the mountains, and we DO fly over mountains - often in the winter, then, like the ground teams who might be caught in a blizzard, prior preparation and good survival gear for aircrews is necessary for a good outcome.  I won't continue to debate this, so you may have the last word if you desire.  I just ask that you allow those who wish to prepare to do so.

Theodore

I always carry a Wildland style Firefighter helmet. Does the job for me.


etodd

Quote from: Hummingbird on April 14, 2016, 05:44:00 PM

What other items can we think of?

Whether I'm flying or on the ground, this gets packed first.

"Don't try to explain it, just bow your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on ..."

Holding Pattern

Quote from: etodd on April 22, 2016, 02:03:40 AM
Quote from: Hummingbird on April 14, 2016, 05:44:00 PM

What other items can we think of?

Whether I'm flying or on the ground, this gets packed first.



I sure hope that we don't need those... then again, we hope we never need the incident within an incident plan.

Luis R. Ramos

Squadron Safety Officer
Squadron Communication Officer
Squadron Emergency Services Officer

Spaceman3750

Quote from: Luis R. Ramos on April 22, 2016, 01:02:06 PM
And what is that?

A GPS or a PLB?

It's a commercial PLB. Doesn't require homing, transmits GPS coordinates to a satellite and gets processed by a center you pay for with your subscription. Has some other features like tracking, OK messages, etc depending on what device you have and what package you choose.

I want one for motorcycle trips but I haven't shelled out yet.

www.findmespot.com

isuhawkeye

there have been several posts on this board over the years that dove into the spot.  Some states even issued them to aircrew and ground teams for a while.  you can set them up to transmit a breadcrumb point that can be viewed over the internet.  a branch director can keep tabs on all of their assets  while in the field. 

JeffDG

Quote from: Spaceman3750 on April 22, 2016, 01:22:39 PM
Quote from: Luis R. Ramos on April 22, 2016, 01:02:06 PM
And what is that?

A GPS or a PLB?

It's a commercial PLB. Doesn't require homing, transmits GPS coordinates to a satellite and gets processed by a center you pay for with your subscription. Has some other features like tracking, OK messages, etc depending on what device you have and what package you choose.

I want one for motorcycle trips but I haven't shelled out yet.

www.findmespot.com
Yep, we have a bunch of those for our aircraft and tie them into a Google Earth view that shows where our aircraft are.  Since it's satellite based, we can track our aircraft (sends a ping every 10 min) in near real-time.

On our last OpsEval, the CAP-USAF folks told one of our planes to stop responding to the radio and land at an airport, and we "found" the plane before he ever landed with that (I looked at the map projected on the wall and said, "Why the hell is that plane up there?")

Al Sayre

We have them in MSWG on all of our aircraft as well.  As an IC I love it that I can just look at my screen and know where all of my aircraft are at any given time +/- 10 min.
Lt Col Al Sayre
MS Wing Staff Dude
Admiral, Great Navy of the State of Nebraska
GRW #2787

sardak

#32
Flight service will now track your SPOT, and similar devices, when you file a VFR flight plan. Here is how it's described by SPOT:

Using a SPOT GEN3® or SPOT Trace®, you can now register your flight plan details (VFRs) with Lockheed Martin's Flight Services and use your SPOT My Account to activate the GPS position (tracking) reports to LMFS. The LMFS system keeps track of the aircraft and if the aircraft stops moving or stops sending position reports, an alarm is triggered immediately at LMFS. The aircraft's most recent GPS coordinates are forwarded to Search and Rescue (SAR) authorities, narrowing the search radius, providing faster SAR response.  http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=112

Flight Service describes it as part of their Surveillance-Enhanced Search and Rescue (SE-SAR) program: https://www.1800wxbrief.com/Website/#!/surveillance-enhanced-search-and-rescue

QuoteAnd what is that?

A GPS or a PLB?

It's a commercial PLB.
It's a Satellite Emergency Notification Device (SEND), the industry accepted term for devices that send distress signals over any satellite service other than Cospas-Sarsat, and which don't connect to the telephone, so sat-phones aren't SENDs. PLBs by definition use the Cospas-Sarsat system. This came about after a company advertised a device as a PLB that didn't use any satellite service. It put out a low power signal on FRS channels.

A SPOT beacon is a one-way device that uses the Globalstar system. DeLorme (recently bought by Garmin) makes a two-way device, the InReach, which uses the Iridium system. http://www.inreachdelorme.com/product-info/inreach-explorer.php  There are other SENDs, but these are two marketed to the "consumer" market.

Emergency signals from both devices go to the privately owned GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC). http://www.geosalliance.com/iercc/iercc-history/

Mike

GroundHawg

Quote from: THRAWN on April 15, 2016, 01:22:37 PM
Quote from: Theodore on April 15, 2016, 11:46:39 AM
I think that at least one team member should carry a flare. Flares are useful for a lot of things.

In over 20 years of ground teaming, I never had use for a flare.

I have used them quite a bit. During a lost person search at night (actual not training) we fired a pen flare, the person saw it and told us the direction it was to them and the estimated distance. We were able to find her and get her to EMS really quickly.

A very similar use was when a GT got seriously lost during a night navigation and we were able to triangulate their location based on their flare and "walk" them back to base on the radio.

A pen flare is literally the size of an ink pen and weighs next to nothing. I will continue to pack mine just in case!