What's in your first aid kit?

[mickjoebill]

The amazing blood clotting gauze Quick-Clot is becoming more widely available world wide at a much reduced price (now the us military have a stockpile of it)
It clots severe wounds where otherwise death by bleedout within as little as 3- 6 minutes is likely.
Can be used on all parts of the body including neck or head.
Z-Medica are one of the distributors with world wide reach.

Quick clot also comes in a small package that can be slipped into a top pocket, far better than it being stowed in the luggage locker.

It is ideal to be administered by one's self or an untrained passenger.

CELOX is a similar product, in a granular form.



Mickjoebill

[ReverseFlight]

Fine, but IMHO most serious injuries from a survivable forced landing are going to be bone fractures and ruptured internal organs. The most important item in my first aid kit is therefore my cellphone - get airlifted ASAP to a hospital emergency room.

Safe landings. :ok:

[Red Wine]

A bottle of Penfolds 407 Shiraz of course.

Will certainly make the call to the boss after the crash, a little less painful!!

[A.Agincourt]

Barclycard

[Heli-Ice]

Big cigar and a lighter :)

[topendtorque]

charged up satphone for me, - and the latest whizz bang ELT, both within easy reach.

Cigar and lighter, top idea, depending whether you are the boss, or employee and strapped for cash or not will give you the ideal combination of big or small cigar and or big or small lighter - with redundancy.

apart from that, there are two kits, one for the intinerants - bandaids and aspro - the other more serious example will have a pressure bandage, more aspro and bandaids and a few other things.

[mickjoebill]

I knew you some of you boys would take the subject seriously:ok:

Mickjoebill

[firebird_uk]

Don't forget the eye patch and sling for the dressing up games while you wait to be rescued!

[TeeS]

Hi MJB

It would be a brave man who could self administer Quick-Clot and keep it in place while it did its work! Have you ever seen it dropped in a cup of water?

Cheers

TeeS

[HOGE]

What's in the first aid kit?

Probably nothing quite as useful as the stuff carried in the HEMS paramedics response bags.

[Blue Rotor Ronin]

Balvenie doublewood single malt ol' chap...de rigeur out of Aberdoodle doncha know... I understand the oil companies insist on it....

[SayItIsntSo]

Our first aid kit’s contents are determined by the regulator. Probably a committee of civil servants and doctors from the 1950’s who never saw a helicopter cabin or ever had the opportunity to visit a remote helicopter operating area and consequently had no idea where we were going to be able to store the kit that they prescribed nor what we really needed. So I think it is what we carry in our survival kit to supplement the first aid kit that I reckon is really pertinent.

In remote areas it can still take up to 6-days to be rescued, after that I reckon you better have good walking shoes on, rather than uniform business shoes, because they will probably stop looking for you about then.

My great fear is burns, so I favour an emphasis on burn treatment. I had a great friend who crashed in the jungle and was badly burned. He spent 6 days stumbling around the undergrowth before he died. A search party found him on day 7. Not the way anyone should die; it still makes me shiver when I think about it.

Water purification tablets and anti-diarrhoea medication are also a favourite of mine. It would be a shame to get away unscathed from your arrival back on earth and then having a loose bowel until you are rescued through drinking ‘dirty water’. It is the pits with a fully functioning toilet available but in the wild and using leaves...not fun at all.

For some of us an adequate supply of sun-block and ‘mossie’ repellent may also help keep the mind intact.

A good ELT will make a difference but you need to make sure it will work. Twice I have needed one, The first time it was defective and only had a range of half a mile, second time I was in a place where the local authority didn’t permit their use arguing that spurious transmission were more trouble than they were worth. So it is not the panacea that we have been trained to believe it is.

There is nothing like being relatively self-sufficient if you want to survive without too much pain.

[Hughes500]

Roll of clingfilm, best thing ever invented for wrapping round burns !

[Heli-Ice]

My first aid kit is according to regulations. A small box containing some bandages, pressure bandages, band aid, some pain relief tablets and such. Nothing to treat bigger wounds.

Survival kit is minimal, the helicopter is equipped with aluminum bags and life vests, ELT is required by regs and checked frequently for condition.

Usually I have warm clothing on and a wool beanie and gloves in my pocket. Additional warm clothing that keeps snow and wind away from you is a good idea to carry. I carry a pocket knife, a lighter (for the smoking/waiting part), sandwiches, chocolate bar and coffe on a container when I go into the mountains. Some say that a real pilot never leaves the house without a bottle of Coca Cola and a bar of Snickers. I prefer the coffe :-)

In Iceland, usually you wouldn't have to wait for long until being rescued and that maybe spoils us brats a little.

Additional communication (mobile or sat phone) is of course, allways carried.

MJB

Thank you for this thread. Hope you others keep posting and telling what equipment you carry?

Karl

[birrddog]

Not quite first-aid, but I am curious to note no mention yet of a strobe light.

[SASless]

Don't fergit the French Letters....make great water bags or also come in quite handy if a friendly dusky native lady is found.

[birrddog]

Sassy, just to be sure, that they are the non-lubricated, non-spermicide type if to be used for the former purpose ;)

[SASless]

A proper kit would also have two wooden pencils, some stick matches, and a candle lantern as well.

[diethelm]

My first aid kit was set around two outcomes. One was in the event of an accident, the other was in the event the dam thing would not start or had a maintenance issue and the maintenance people could not get there until after dark or the next day. I was always more worried about the second issue than the first.

I do remember a long period of time on the side of the colorado river.......

[arismount]

1) A bottle of bourbon, in case of snakebite; and,
2) A bag of snakes

[SASless]

All (or almost all) EMS helicopters carry two Thomas Packs chock full of medical kit....close on to 100 pounds weight probably....and in the vast majority of crashes it does no use at all.:uhoh:

Just how much of a first aid kit does one really need in case of a serious accident? I would submit a few sticking plasters, a bit of triple anti-biotic cream and a cloth arm sling is going to fall short of the need.

[helimedic]

All First Aid kits will have little use after a serious crash and the only thing that will save you is a Trauma Surgeon at a major hospital.

The availability of ELT's/Sat Phones post incident will be far more effective than a few band aids and pressure dressings.

Helimedic

[bugdevheli]

for minor cuts , dog bites, cat scratches, or any injury that one thinks realy needs a stitch or two SUPERGLOO