Survival water in arid environments: carry a big plastic bag.

[APenNameAndThatA]

To make a long story short, if you have a tie a 1.8 m by 1 m transparent plastic bag securely around a eucalypt branch, transpiration should produce about 1 L of safe water per day. PVC folds more compactly than polythene. 150 microns is best for PVC and 100 microns is best for polythene. Shelf life of such bags is not infinite. Garbage bags are too thin and the wrong colour. Reference: "Survival Water in Australia's Arid Lands",  B. L. Kavanagh, 1984. The Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, Canberra. That almost sounds practicable for light aircraft, to carry as well as water and an EPIRB. 

[turboplanner]

6 hours ago, APenNameAndThatA said:

To make a long story short, if you have a tie a 1.8 m by 1 m transparent plastic bag securely around a eucalypt branch, transpiration should produce about 1 L of safe water per day. PVC folds more compactly than polythene. 150 microns is best for PVC and 100 microns is best for polythene. Shelf life of such bags is not infinite. Garbage bags are too thin and the wrong colour. Reference: "Survival Water in Australia's Arid Lands",  B. L. Kavanagh, 1984. The Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, Canberra. That almost sounds practicable for light aircraft, to carry as well as water and an EPIRB. 

When you're forced to land unexpectedly it's about the time when you've just pulled off a precautionary landing, there's no damage to the aircraft, but you were flying over the Outback expecting to be in a town in another hour. The only sound you hear is "tink, tink, tink from the exhaust as you remind yourself to check the fuel before departure next time, only there's not going to be a next time. You do the maths; it's a 50 hour walk to the town and not a sign of habitation.

 

That's when you tell yourself "If only I'd listened to APen!"

 

Your water consumption in the southern cities is two litres per day, so check the consumption rate for the area you're going into; in some cases it's a litre an hour, and that will tell you how many bags to take.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I don't disagree guys, but I know you can reduce your water needs by seeking solid shade and resting during the hot part of the day.  I have no idea if this would reduce your requirements below 1 litre per day.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Funny how I found out about the plastic bag business here and not from CASA.

[Kenlsa]

IFR (I follow roads) will negate the conundrum of what colour garbage bag to carry

 

Ken

[Bruce Tuncks]

I have found that keeping the blue plane on the pink line works well too. But bugger, that needs gps and stuff.

[facthunter]

In remote areas, without shade You won't last long in Summer.  You can distil your own urine effectively and safely with a plastic sheet with a stone in the middle of it with  cup below. Being near a road gives you a chance of being picked up if you get there. It's also a predictable surface to land on when there's no trees, wires or cattle grids about.  Nev

[JG3]

Has anyone here tried this plastic bag over a gum tree to see how much water you can actually catch? Not much I'm guessing, probably not worth the effort......

Always carry at least 5 litres of water in a hydration pack that can survive impact, and of course a good EPIRB.

Trigger the EPIRB and shelter in the shade of the aircraft and stay there and move as little as possible.

Keep a small fire going, with a bundle of grass and green leaves handy that can be dumped on the fire to make smoke when a search aircraft is heard.

If the radio is still working call on 121.5 and 126.7 and area frequency.

In my experience, an EPIRB signal will get response overhead in just a few hours if not sooner, anywhere.

[onetrack]

How do you reckon the poor bugger who got lost in his Wackett in 1962 would have gone with the plastic bag trick?

 

https://www.adastra.adastron.com/people/wackett-1.htm

 

I don't know how much the hardy bushes and small trees in the desert/semi-desert regions would produce by way of water, but I would imagine it's not 1 litre a day.

 

We live in a much-improved age today where communications are superb - as compared to previous decades where communications were extremely limited.

Every single sad story of people who perished in remote regions after becoming lost would not exist if todays communications were available to them.

 

I have personally known more than one person who perished when they became trapped in a remote spot, and they had no communication. Some of those "remote spots" were merely back paddocks on farms.

Make sure you have a good PLB that you keep close to you when you travel in remote regions, and ensure you can reach it, if you're injured or trapped.

[facthunter]

  Australia is a vast and often inhospitable country but preparation can make it less risky.  Tipping upside down and catching on fire will ruin your day no matter what you may have done. That's not difficult to have happen if the surface is "Unfriendly".   Nev

[turboplanner]

9 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Funny how I found out about the plastic bag business here and not from CASA.

You could be 100% correct, but I have a sneaking suspicion that we did find out from ATSB because I vaguely remember some comments on Remote Areas.

[Old Koreelah]

3 hours ago, onetrack said:

…Make sure you have a good PLB that you keep close to you when you travel in remote regions, and ensure you can reach it, if you're injured or trapped.

Wise words, OT.

I gave a PLB to my brother, who spends too much time working alone with horses, dodgy cattle and machinery.

He gave it back after a week, but years later he surprised me by carrying a phone, but it not much plurry use in the rugged country he works in.

I religiously carry my phone and PLB on me, so they escape with me. 

[FlyBoy1960]

I deployed an epirb once while doing a flight in the USA due to massive storms and tornadoes in all directions, as it happened, I landed in an Indian reservation on a dirt road in the middle of New Mexico and probably about 50 km from the closest person.  I turned the beacon on at about 500 feet AGL when I had committed to landing, I turned it off after about 2 minutes after I landed, exited the aircraft and started tying everything down using shrubs and rocks.

 

The beacon was a personal one (a little GME410 from memory) and registered in my name to my Australian address, within 60 seconds of activation, search and rescue in Canberra were calling my telephone, shortly after that was the American equivalent who had pulled my phone number of an international database. I explained everything was good, they knew my exact location and send out an Indian ranger to spend the night with me if needed. After about one hour the storm had passed, the Ranger had arrived and after another hour of sunlight the track had dried out enough to take off from.

 

Just saying that the response to these new generation GPS beacons is within seconds, they have you down in location to about 3 m and I'm sure if it was a real emergency where, I didn't land on the track and crashed into something than I am sure help would have been on the way 10 minutes later. Amazing technologies and something that needs to be taken with you every single time you fly.   GME even gave me a replacement beacon for the one that I activated if they could use everything in their survival story series.

[spacesailor]

Jg3

That didn,t happen for Bill Belcher  ( a sailor ) two epirbs that didn't work.

Cut the drougs ( antidrift lumps ) off his liferaft & set sail for Brisbane. He was picted up within sight if the coast. 

I took my two obsolete epirbs apart and found one had a loose none- soldered antenna wire, & the other ( older ) one a leaking battery.

SO 

I had two dudes out of two.

Yes both had the test signal OKed

spacesailor

 

[facthunter]

Someone called me a dude once.  Nev

[JG3]

Back in about 1997 I was flying my ultralight in the Northern Territory and accidentally triggered the PLB while in the air. It was a surplus RAAF 121.5 unit with no GPS, but had a test switch with no cover so was easy to bump on. I didn't realize it was transmitting for about half an hour until I noticed static on the VHF, switched to 121.5 and the signal blasted in, so switched off right away. An hour later landed at Brunette Downs Station. An hour later the station got a call asking if anyone there could have accidentally actuated a PLB. Now that's very impressive, seeing as how they first contacted locals in the area who could be the most useful if assistance was required, rather than sending the cavalry.

A couple of years later the big rescue chopper was hovering over my workshop at Maleny and landed in the paddock. They were looking for a PLB signal. This had taken them a couple of hours because first they had found a PLB triggered by a lame at Caloundra airfield and had parked the chopper thinking their job was done. But Canberra called them to go again because it seems that both PLBs had triggered at the same time. I my case it was that mongrel exposed switch on that PLB had bumped while removing it from the aircraft. This time I rigged a cover for the switch that had to be pushed aside before it could be triggered.

But the real lesson is that PLBs mostly work really well, given a chance, and the monitors in Canberra were right on the ball. 

I want to have one in current condition and registered, and stored right handy so I can snatch it easily if leaving the aircraft in a difficult situation.

[turboplanner]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Someone called me a dude once.  Nev

Was she good looking?

 

[spacesailor]

Bad ' spell checker '.

spacesailor