AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020 - 102

NEWS & NOTES 

AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE

Keeping the odds
in your favor
In survival scenarios, luck
and hope have little to do
with a positive outcome
BY ALICIA HERRON

NO ONE LIKES TO CONSIDER the possibility of a forced off-airport landing-and the
potential survival situation to follow. But as
pilot in command, it is your job to prepare
for the chance that you and your passengers
could be in a life-or-death survival scenario,
with only your preparation, training, and
creativity to keep you alive.
The choices you make before takeoff
can make a big difference when it comes
to survival and rescue. Before cranking the
engine, ask yourself if you've done everything possible to mitigate risk. Play the
"What if...?" game: What if I crash? Have
I briefed the crew and passengers? Did I
pick the safest route? As much as we'd all
like to think of ourselves as military-grade
survivalists from hours of binge-watching
Bear Grylls or Ron Swanson, we likely are
not. Here are a few tips to increase your
chances in a post-crash survival scenario:
Worst-case preparation matters. We
all fly in different conditions over different terrain for different reasons, and every
flight presents its own credible forced
landing scenarios and risk profiles. There's
a misconception that survival planning is
only needed for flights over rough terrain, but rescue after a forced landing in
an urban area can take time, too.
Unplanned off-airport landings and
crashes often result in serious injuries

102 | AOPA PILOT June 2020

that disproportionately affect the people in the front of the airplane. If you get
knocked unconscious after a forced landing, your passengers and their knowledge
of what to do might be the only thing that
will keep you alive. Planning your route,
having the right clothing, and briefing
everyone onboard about where to find
and how to use survival and rescue gear
can substantially influence the outcome
of a forced landing in your favor.
Communication is critical throughout every flight. The more others know
about your intended flight path and proposed departure and arrival times, the
shorter you are likely to wait for help
after an emergency landing. A good flight
plan, keeping others in the loop on your
whereabouts, and taking advantage of
ATC services can improve your chances
of a swift and successful search and rescue effort. This is true even of local or
training flights.
If you choose not to use ATC services,
at a minimum let a friend on the ground
know your plans-you want someone to
miss you if you don't get in touch with
them by a certain time. And taking that
into consideration, make sure your ground
contact is knowledgeable enough about
aviation to know what next step to take if
you become overdue.

Training and actions can determine
your fate. Every emergency is different, and
everyone will respond differently, but good
training generally (and predictably) yields
better results. Basic survival knowledge
and the right equipment can help you better control your fate, and hands-on training
is the best way to go. Seek this training out
before you need it.
We all hope to never need to use our
survival skills and gear, but we also know
that hope is not a strategy. Prepare now to
avoid regret later. Learn more about how
you can prepare for the unlikely event of a
survival situation after an off-airport landing with this safety advisor:
airsafetyinstitute.org/safetyadvisors/
survive
EMAIL alicia.herron@aopa.org

THERE I WAS: JEFF KING
GA pilot Jeff King shares his story of a
2009 incident in which he experienced
an engine failure in his Piper Cherokee
Six, and made a forced landing in a
Walmart parking lot.
Listen to his story and all other
episodes of "There I Was" here:
airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas
http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/safetyadvisors/survive http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/safetyadvisors/survive http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas
AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020

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