Aviation Advisory and Online Courses

Survival Skills

If a plane goes down in a remote place, your best survival advantage is not toughness, it’s doing a few simple things in the right order, quickly and calmly. Most serious harm after a crash comes from fire and smoke, bleeding, exposure (cold, heat, wind, rain), and poor decisions in the first hour.

The goal is not to ‘survive forever’, it’s to stay alive, stay together, and get found fast.

The golden rule

Rescuers look for the aircraft, not your heroic footprints. Unless staying put is clearly unsafe, stay with the wreckage, make yourself visible, activate any beacons, and conserve energy.

Phase 0, pre-flight checklist

Remote charter flying can involve short runways, rough weather, limited alternates, and long waits if plans change. A few small habits give you a big safety boost.

Carry on your person (not in checked baggage):

  • A small water bottle and high-energy snack
  • Any critical medication
  • A light layer (wind and shock can chill you fast, even in warm climates)
  • A torch or headlamp if you often travel remote
  • A small power bank (optional, but handy)

If you travel remote often: consider a personal locator beacon (PLB) and learn how to use it, keep it accessible, avoid accidental activation, and register it where required.

Take the safety briefing seriously:
Know where the exits are, how your seatbelt works, and what the crew wants you to do after the aircraft stops.

Phase 1, the moment you realise ‘this is happening’

Brace, stay strapped, protect your head

  • Get into the brace position as directed
  • Keep your seatbelt low and tight across your hips
  • Stow loose items fast, anything unsecured becomes a projectile

Stay belted until the aircraft has fully stopped moving. Many injuries happen in the last seconds of sliding, bouncing, or rolling.

The three immediate post-stop threats

  1. Fire and smoke
  2. Secondary hazards (rolling, collapsing cabin, sharp debris)
  3. Panic and chaos blocking exits

Your job is simple: get out if it’s unsafe to stay inside, then create order outside.

Phase 2, the first 2 minutes after the aircraft stops

Think fast, but don’t scatter.

1) ‘Can I breathe here?’

Smoke is deadly. If you smell strong fuel, see smoke, or hear crackling, move quickly.

  • Evacuate
  • Move upwind if possible (so fumes and smoke blow away from you)
  • Get clear of the aircraft

2) Evacuate only as far as you need to

Get to a safe distance, then stop and regroup. Sprinting into the bush can turn one emergency into two.

3) Headcount and a calm reset

Use a steady, simple voice:

  • ‘Everyone who can walk, over here’
  • ‘We’re staying together’
  • ‘You, grab first aid and water’
  • ‘You, look for the beacon and survival kit’

Calm leadership saves lives, even if you’re not ‘the leader’.

Phase 3, the first 30 minutes, the ‘stop dying’ window

Your priorities, in order, are usually:

  1. Immediate danger (fire, smoke, fuel, unstable wreckage)
  2. First aid
  3. Shelter and exposure control
  4. Signalling and communication

1) First aid, control bleeding, protect breathing, treat shock

Even basic first aid matters massively when help is far away.

  • Major bleeding: direct pressure, keep pressure on, improvise with clothing
  • Breathing issues: keep the person upright, calm, monitored
  • Shock: keep warm, lay flat if safe, reassure, small sips of water if fully conscious and not vomiting
  • Spinal concern: don’t move people unless there is danger (fire, flooding)

2) Prevent exposure early, even if you feel fine

Exposure is sneaky. Wind, rain, sweat, wet clothes, and shock can drop body temperature quickly.

  • Get out of wet clothes if possible
  • Get people off the ground (insulate from below)
  • Create a windbreak using anything available
  • In heat, make shade immediately and cover skin

3) Activate signalling, make rescue easy

Your goal is to be found quickly.

Start with the strongest signals:

  • Aircraft beacon (if present and operating)
  • PLB if you have one
  • Bright, high-contrast visual markers on open ground, ‘X’ or ‘SOS’ with rocks, branches, fabric
  • Reflective signalling when you hear or see aircraft (mirror, phone screen)
  • Smoke by day, fire by night, only if safe and controlled

Phase 4, the first day, build a safe ‘rescue camp’

Now you shift from panic to systems.

1) Decide, stay or move?

Default is stay with the aircraft, unless it is unsafe (fire risk, flooding, unstable terrain, active hazard).

Only consider moving if:

  • Staying put is clearly dangerous, or
  • You have confirmed communication and a known, close route to help, and you’re physically capable

If you move, leave clear information behind:

  • Names
  • Time you left
  • Direction
  • Reason
  • Planned destination

2) Build shelter like it matters, because it does

Use the aircraft and debris as resources:

  • Seats and panels as windbreaks
  • Upholstery as insulation
  • Floor mats as ground insulation
  • Doors or shade structures for heat

Even a crude shelter reduces energy loss and improves decision making.

3) Water, drink smart

Dehydration ruins judgement fast.

  • Use carried water first
  • Collect rainwater if possible
  • Treat natural water if you can (boil, filter, purification tablets)

Avoid macho mistakes:

  • Don’t ration water to the point of confusion and collapse, drink small amounts regularly
  • Don’t drink alcohol
  • Don’t drink seawater

4) Fire, a tool and a hazard

Fire helps with warmth, signalling, and morale, but wreckage can have fuel and vapours.

  • Only light a fire when you’re well clear of fuel smells and spills
  • Keep it controlled, clear the area
  • Have a plan to extinguish it
  • Never start a fire that could become a bushfire

5) Food is not day one

Most people can go a long time without food. In the first 24 to 48 hours, focus on warmth, hydration, shelter, and signalling. Panic-foraging burns energy and increases injury risk.

Phase 5, nights and morale, where people unravel

Remote survival is as much psychological as physical.

Do this:

  • Create a simple routine, injuries check, water check, signal check, shelter check
  • Keep people together
  • Keep a fire only if safe and needed
  • Rest whenever possible, exhaustion is dangerous
  • Listen for aircraft and be ready to signal quickly

Morale is not fluff, it’s fuel for good decisions.

Special situations

If you ditch in water

  • Get out calmly, don’t inflate a lifejacket until you’re clear of the aircraft
  • Stay with the group
  • Get into a raft if available
  • Protect from cold and sun
  • Keep signalling continuously

If there’s fire or leaking fuel

  • Get out immediately
  • Move upwind
  • Regroup at a safe distance
  • Treat injuries and then signal

Extreme heat

  • Shade first, then water management
  • Cover skin, rest during peak heat
  • Avoid unnecessary walking

Cold, wet, windy conditions

  • Get insulation under you, block wind, get dry
  • Keep people together
  • Treat shivering and confusion as serious warning signs

Survival checklist:

  1. Brace, belt tight, protect your head
  2. Stop, breathe, assess fire and smoke
  3. Evacuate if unsafe, move upwind, regroup
  4. Headcount, stop bleeding, treat shock
  5. Activate beacon if available, then big visible signals
  6. Shelter now, not later
  7. Drink smart, conserve energy, stay together
  8. Don’t wander unless staying put is unsafe

If you want, tell me the environment your audience operates in most, Top End wet season, desert, jungle, mountains, coastal, overwater, and I’ll tailor this into a one-page ‘passenger survival card’ and a shorter pre-flight checklist for your website header.

Get in touch

Email, contact@jellywireaviation.com