When is a Personal Locator Beacon not a PLB?
406 MHz Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are earning a well-deserved reputation for saving lives. These personal-sized distress beacons (large pocket sized) use the same technology that’s been used in marine and aviation (EPIRBs and ELTs) for many years and saved thousands of lives. If you’re headed out [...]

With yesterday’s tragic collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis, once again people are asking what they could do to escape their car if they suddenly found themselves underwater.
First, you must stay calm. Second, you cannot open the door, you must escape through the windows. If the windows are already open, you are more or less [...]

Renowned mountain flying instructor and author of Mountain Flying Bible, Sparky Imeson, was involved in a crash during an instructional flight in Montana over the weekend. He and the student survived. Details can be found here in this article.
The part that has me puzzled is why an experienced person like Sparky would leave [...]

For a long time I and others have been suggesting that NOAA could save money by eliminating the NOAA proof of registration decal for PLBs and ELTs. This was originally designed for use on EPIRBs where there are regulatory requirements for commercial vessels that the Coast Guard check that the EPIRB is registered. [...]

Doug Ritter Introduces First Ever Paul® Knife Collaboration
Gilbert, Arizona – Doug Ritter today introduced the first ever collaboration with Paul W. Poehlmann, the creator of the Paul® Knife. The Doug Ritter RSK Mk4 Gentleman’s Folder™ is a limited edition run of 300 serialized knives based on the original Paul® Presto and produced by Lone [...]

Chris Venti, with a management background from General Electric, has purchased the assets of Survival, Incorporated, maker of the StarFlash signal mirror, BlastMatch and StrikeForce firestarters, WetFire Tinder and SaberCut Saw, among others. These were also marketed to civilians under the Ultimate Survival brand. The new company is called Ultimate Survival Technologies. Financial backing [...]

Too often the lessons we learn come as a result of tragedy or mistakes. Here’s a story where everything was done right and the result stands an example that others could learn from. Not that I expect many will, this happened to “the other guy.” For too many, it always happens to [...]

Satellite phone company GlobalStar has finally admitted what many of us have suspected for some time, namely that their system has problems and is not reliable. It seems that in their latest SEC filing GlobalStar has essentially told its users that things are bad and getting worse, as this article in Barron’s [...]

The Equipped To Survive SHOT Show Report 2007 has been posted.  Enjoy!

Yesterday, NBC’s Today Show ran a piece on winter survival that was better than most, though not without its errors and critical omissions. The written article on MSNBC’s site is pretty good for what it is, Charles Horton’s survival story. The video from the Today Show can also be viewed on the same [...]