Ground and Aircrew Mission Bags

[spectre]

This may be somewhat duplicative of other posts, but I'm looking at putting together standard ground team and aircrew mission bags for my squadron and I would appreciate any lists, thoughts, or lessons-learned from other forum members.  The thought is to basically have a bag packed with basic common gear and mission essentials that will be stored at the squadron and can be thrown in the airplane or ground vehicle for missions.  I suspect this will largely be backup gear for most mission crews, but will at least be available for the unprepared. 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Frenchie]

I'm not sure what you mean by Aircrew Mission Bags. 

The aircraft should already have a survival kit and a first aid kit.  It might be a good idea to carry about 3 MREs and a gallon of water.  The amount of water you need depends on the area and the weather conditions.  In Texas in the summer, each person is going to need about 2 quarts of water minimum per day, so if you have 3 crewmembers you'd need about 4.5 gals to last 3 days, but I know of nobody that carries that much as it would add 36 pounds in just water alone.

The PIC should have all the essentials needed for the flight (charts, A/FD, headset, flashlight, etc.)  If the unit wanted to buy a couple of extra headsets for the plane, those should remain in the plane and become part of the manifest.

There might be a few odds and ends like plenty of sic sacks and the like, or plenty of forms, but the Mission Pilot should already have a prepared folder with all the necessary forms.

I would caution against adding a lot of stuff, especially if it's not absolutely essential.  Most of the 172s and even the newer 182s don't have a lot of useful load to spare and many CAP crewmembers are full figured.  If you're running up against the useful load limit, 45 lbs = 1 hour of fuel.  If I have a choice between 1 hour of extra fuel and 45 lbs of non-essential items, I'll leave the non-essential items in the hangar.

[wingnut]

I think you hit the nail on the head, we are sacrificing safety and survival equipment because we are getting too fat.

I know that in CAWG, I have never seen any inspection of the survival equipment on any mission  or sarex that I have been on in the last two years (20missions) .When I checked, The guys in my unit had 25 year old surplus Navy water cans in the plane.  I see nothing wrong with a 20 pound survival bag.However, Your right about the water issue, in the desert 3 days supply is a lot of water. Besides, it may take three days to find us if we crash.

[w7sar]

For me, the challenge was to find a tactical bag I liked.  And, I finally did at county-comm.com.  They have a nice bag with MOLLE straps (so I can hang MOLLE stuff on it) and it's well made.  They also have a nice bail-out bag I like too.  A couple of the local police SWAT folk use the tactical bag and it has a nice pocket for a laptop if you need as well.  Both of the countycomm bags have lots of pockets and are well made.

Jerry, W7SAR
Utah Wg.

[Frenchie]

I think you hit the nail on the head, we are sacrificing safety and survival equipment because we are getting too fat.

I know that in CAWG, I have never seen any inspection of the survival equipment on any mission  or sarex that I have been on in the last two years (20missions) .When I checked, The guys in my unit had 25 year old surplus Navy water cans in the plane.  I see nothing wrong with a 20 pound survival bag.However, Your right about the water issue, in the desert 3 days supply is a lot of water. Besides, it may take three days to find us if we crash.

Not just that.  The planes don't have as much useful load as they once did.  A 172p with the 180hp conversion has more full fuel useful load than the brand new 182T.  I would guess most CAP planes are stored full of fuel.  With the 172R model at full fuel, you'd be hard pressed to carry even 3 FAA standard 175lb folks with all of their gear and everything that's in the back.  With the 172p, it was no problem.

[SJFedor]

I think you hit the nail on the head, we are sacrificing safety and survival equipment because we are getting too fat.

I know that in CAWG, I have never seen any inspection of the survival equipment on any mission  or sarex that I have been on in the last two years (20missions) .When I checked, The guys in my unit had 25 year old surplus Navy water cans in the plane.  I see nothing wrong with a 20 pound survival bag.However, Your right about the water issue, in the desert 3 days supply is a lot of water. Besides, it may take three days to find us if we crash.

Not just that.  The planes don't have as much useful load as they once did.  A 172p with the 180hp conversion has more full fuel useful load than the brand new 182T.  I would guess most CAP planes are stored full of fuel.  With the 172R model at full fuel, you'd be hard pressed to carry even 3 FAA standard 175lb folks with all of their gear and everything that's in the back.  With the 172p, it was no problem.

The R and S model 172s also have larger tanks (50gal) then the normal 172Ps (40gal). At least in TNWG, the S model 172s and T model 182s are left fueled "at the tabs", which brings it to ~40gal in the 172S and 64 gal in the 182T. If the profile allows, we can take them all the way up before departure, but they're mission ready if we have a larger crew.

[wingnut]

True

I think if I survived I would rather have a GPS enabled 406mhz PLB

[KyCAP]

In Kentucky Wing I know the airplane survival kits are gone through regulary.   

I know that our OPS officer was replacing the aspirin in the kits last year because I overhead him stating that they were about to expire and they needed replacing some where.

In addition to that it's a checklist item on the Form 71 that is supposed to be reviewed prior to any mission sorties.  http://level2.cap.gov/documents/u_082503132300.pdf

I also know that the SAREVAL teams from USAF pick through these.  So, they should be checked prior to that at least (every two years).  That  would be bad if that was the ONLY interval in a wing though...