300 feet of dental floss?
This is not primarily for dental hygiene, but rather for fishing line, sewing, and generally tying jobs such as shelter construction (in case I run out of paracord). Dental floss is very strong for its size, and 300' takes up almost no space or weight. It's cheap, too.
As a matter of interest - how much does that lot weigh?
It's been a while since I weighed it (admittedly I should be more diligent about Weight & Balance), but not that much, really. If you review the list carefully, you'll see that all of the gear is pretty small and lightweight (no canned food, for example). Fortunately there is a lot of compact gear manufactured for hikers, mountain climbers, etc.; it's all readily available and can be used by pilots, too. Even the fuel canisters are quite small. The biggest item in my kit is the
hatchet, and that is not heavy.
Who prompts the next question - what are you flying?
Cessna 170B.
Anybody carrying survival kit really should (a) be carrying kit appropriate to the trip, and (b) know how to use it.
Agreed (although I would amend Genghis' comment to read "anybody flying really should be carrying survival equipment appropriate to the conditions and know how to use it").
Let's be honest, after you've found yourself "stuck" is not the time to read the survival manual MLS carries, except to relieve the boredom whilst waiting to be rescued.
Agreed: a book is no substitute for proper training. However, I don't have perfect recall, and a manual makes a good aide-mémoire.
The book about Shackleton is to relieve boredrom, and also to remind myselft that it
is possible to survive some pretty awful situations, given the right mental attitude.
P.S. A couple of years ago, I read an article in
Soaring magazine about survival kits for gliders flown in the American west (Nevada, Arizona, etc.). Most of the gear listed made sense to me: except for the loaded 9 mm. pistol and extra magazines!
A gun like that is essentially useful for anything except shooting human beings ... methinks the author had seen one too many reruns of the movie
Mad Max 2 (aka
The Road Warrior).