What emergency supplies do you carry in your flight bag?

vinlearns2fly

Pre-Flight
Joined
May 5, 2021
Messages
36
Display Name

Display name:
Student Pilot
Curious about what you you carry in your flight bag other than the usual aviation gear. I don't carry anything for an emergency situation other than the following:
  • A few spare battery packs to charge my gadgets (phone, ADSB-B receiver, iPad)
  • A few AA batteries
  • Handheld VHF radio
  • Headlamp
  • Protein bar
  • Bottle of water
 
I won't boor you with radios, flares, water, etc. Common knowledge. When I was a military pilot, I was handed a small, compact piece of cloth. It was red and thin, cheap gauzy material. Unfolded it was a foot and half wide by about 10 feet long. Folded and rolled, it was down to an inch or so diameter and weighed in at about an ounce. Outstanding for visual signaling.
Don't forget signal mirrors. Cheap. I once spotted some US Army Rangers' flash at a range of 7+ miles.
 
3 credit cards, a debit card, and a checkbook.
 
Tums...because that pizza I am ordering to be delivered, that I am not supposed to have...double jalapeños ... cause I am stuck...never learned my lesson.
 
Credit cards and a small firearm. Never know where your emergency might occur and you may have to hunt dinner or prevent becoming dinner! :D
 
Curious about what you you carry in your flight bag other than the usual aviation gear. I don't carry anything for an emergency situation other than the following:
  • A few spare battery packs to charge my gadgets (phone, ADSB-B receiver, iPad)
  • A few AA batteries
  • Handheld VHF radio
  • Headlamp
  • Protein bar
  • Bottle of water
That's basically it but I also have a knife and ACR PLB
 
small firearm
Serious question.. say you are flying over states that have different gun laws and regulations over what someone may or may not carry. If you land in a more restrictive state are you potentially in trouble? I've read things about people on boats who have to stop in different parts or marinas getting into trouble
 
Serious question.. say you are flying over states that have different gun laws and regulations over what someone may or may not carry. If you land in a more restrictive state are you potentially in trouble? I've read things about people on boats who have to stop in different parts or marinas getting into trouble

Of course if you land in a gun free zone state you will get in trouble. If they find out about it of course.

My airport had already made it clear that no firearms are allowed to be on the airport property.
 
Of course if you land in a gun free zone state you will get in trouble. If they find out about it of course
I didn't know if there was some kind of right to safe transport law or whatever.. if it doesn't leave the plane and you must stop from A to B
 
I carry a can of Boost oxygen in my flight bag. I used it once while flying high at night. I can't say for sure if it made any difference or not.
 
I won't boor you with radios, flares, water, etc. Common knowledge. When I was a military pilot, I was handed a small, compact piece of cloth. It was red and thin, cheap gauzy material. Unfolded it was a foot and half wide by about 10 feet long. Folded and rolled, it was down to an inch or so diameter and weighed in at about an ounce. Outstanding for visual signaling.
Don't forget signal mirrors. Cheap. I once spotted some US Army Rangers' flash at a range of 7+ miles.

Sounds like a VF-17 panel. We used those so the USAF wouldn't put a Hellfire up the exhaust of my M1 Abrams. ;)
 
Solar charger, space blankets, water purification tabs, para cord,couple of blank cd’s
 
I have a very complete first aid kit that stays in the plane. If I'm flying to a remote region (U.P. of Michigan, for example), I have an additional survival kit I throw in for those trips, and I also ALWAYS have a firearm on my hip, so there's that.
I also have an "IFR kit" that goes with me when there's a chance I'm flying IFR, that has paper charts/paper approach plates, a handheld radio with headset adapter, etc.
 
I didn't know if there was some kind of right to safe transport law or whatever.. if it doesn't leave the plane and you must stop from A to B

You are allowed to transport through those places under federal law. Generally to be safe you will have to unload the firearm, put the ammo in a separate bag or container, and then put the firearm in a lockable case. However some states try to ignore this and make your life hell. Yeah, looking at you New Jersey!
 
You are allowed to transport through those places under federal law. Generally to be safe you will have to unload the firearm, put the ammo in a separate bag or container, and then put the firearm in a lockable case. However some states try to ignore this and make your life hell. Yeah, looking at you New Jersey!
If I can’t carry in the state, I don’t need to go to that state.
 
My day pack carries season appropriate coat or gloves, an EarthX Jump Pack, Iridium sat phone, 500 Magnum pistol, bug dope, Petzl head lamp, and a battle of water. The real survival gear lives in a backpack in baggage.
 
I carry a can of Boost oxygen in my flight bag. I used it once while flying high at night. I can't say for sure if it made any difference or not.

iu
 
The emergency supplies you might pack for a bush trip in Alaska is going to be different that the supplies you might pack for a trip from Burbank to Hawthorne.

(e.g. you don't need a autograph booklet if you go down in Denali Park.)
 
If I can’t carry in the state, I don’t need to go to that state.

True, but I had a free place to stay at the beach, so I went. There's 11 states I can't carry in under reciprocity, and I rarely go to them.
 
Serious question.. say you are flying over states that have different gun laws and regulations over what someone may or may not carry. If you land in a more restrictive state are you potentially in trouble? I've read things about people on boats who have to stop in different parts or marinas getting into trouble

I wasn’t totally serious (see the smiley). I guess it can be done. I was gonna say to take a laser pointer so that you could signal in an emergency situation ... but I wouldn’t want that to be taken seriously either!
 
I didn't know if there was some kind of right to safe transport law or whatever.. if it doesn't leave the plane and you must stop from A to B

Huh. I hadn't thought about this aspect of things before.

My plane came with all sorts of tools and items from its prior owner, many of them useful. One of them is what I would describe as a "giant rambo knife" -- presumably to hunt and skin the tyrannosaurs that roam Oklahoma and menace downed pilots? :loco:

I may need to leave that thing in Oregon before we head back to Cali. Or shove it out of the storm window while overflying the border, to reveal the gender of a newborn.
 
For a long trip, I try to carry the full kit required in Alaska. That seems to have been thought through more than I have time for. I haven’t figured out the best food rations but otherwise I think I have it all.
 
Signal mirrors, complete with the aiming hole, is my guess.


Yes - blank CD or DVD - great for signalling and less likely to break - Bear Grylls recommend

Forgot to add SunBlock
 
Last edited:
How many of you gun-toting outlaws have actually had to fire your weapon in self-defense? Or even heard of someone using their weapon against another human being (or wolf) in self defense? This is for lower 48 states (we all know about them Grizzlies in Alaska, and polar bears in Svalbard).

You have a better chance of dying from heat stroke on a hot ramp than in a situation where a handgun is useful. Better to pack an instant cold pack for that 30 minute unexpected taxi in Phoenix, AZ.
 
How many of you gun-toting outlaws have actually had to fire your weapon in self-defense? Or even heard of someone using their weapon against another human being (or wolf) in self defense? This is for lower 48 states (we all know about them Grizzlies in Alaska, and polar bears in Svalbard).
What difference does it make? It’s a constitutional right that we have, like it or not.
You have a better chance of dying from heat stroke on a hot ramp than in a situation where a handgun is useful. Better to pack an instant cold pack for that 30 minute unexpected taxi in Phoenix, AZ.
How many people have been in situations where they could’ve used a firearm and didn’t have one?
 
What difference does it make? It’s a constitutional right that we have, like it or not.
How many people have been in situations where they could’ve used a firearm and didn’t have one?
A hell of a lot less than have suffered severe consequences of heat stroke and could have used an ice pack. Just saying. Ask any police officer, fire fighter, or paramedic in Arizona (or nearly any state in the summer).
 
Back
Top