Anyone who has ever tried to toss a person in the water a life ring or similar flotation device, knows it’s not easy and accuracy is an iffy proposition. There have been a number of products developed over the years to address that and now Mustang Survival has tossed their Rescue Stick into the [...]

VIKING has issued a Safety Recall for some of their  RescYou and top of the line self-righting RescYou Pro life rafts. A fault in the pressure relief valves could result in an inflation failure or partial inflation. Only certain serial numbers of the life rafts are included.
The VIKING web site includes instructions on [...]

UPDATE AVAILABLE IN OUR SHOT SHOW 2007 GEAR REPORT
Finally, I can publicly announce one of the worst kept secrets in the business, the new ACR Electronics MicrOFix 406 Personal Locator Beacon. (Click photo for larger image) It was introduced at SHOT Show this morning.
ACR claims this is the world’s smallest [...]

Many of you have read about the climber rescued in Big Bend National Park, Texas, by using his PLB (406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon) to signal his distress. You will find the basic details on the Equipped.org Blog at: http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=48
On a public forum, BigBendChat.com, the survivor (posting under the name Boot [...]

As more Personal Locator Beacons are sold, it is inevitable that more “saves” will be credited to these high tech distress beacons. Here’s the latest, a classic example where having a PLB saved time and resources and quite possibly a life. As they become more common and rangers and others become more knowledgeable about [...]

For all the boaters out there, the new year marks the end of your legal use of 121.5 MHz EPIRBs. While satellite processing of 121.5 MHz distress signals doesn’t end until February, 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard wisely, in my opinion, got ahead of the issue by prohibiting the use of these dinosaurs effective January [...]

With SHOT Show being held in Orlando, Florida, this time around, we were presented with a difficult predicament. Our plans to attend and cover all the new gear at SHOT Show as we have the past six years was in jeopardy due to the dramatically higher expense of attending in Orlando compared with Las [...]

Interesting tidbit of news today from the very small world of 406 MHz distress beacons:
Digital Angel Corporation Acquires Assets of McMurdo Marine Electronics Business
McMurdo Acquisition Solidifies Digital Angel’s Position as Leading Global Provider of Emergency Locator Beacons
SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Digital Angel Corporation (Amex: DOC) announced today that Signature Industries, its London-based subsidiary, has entered [...]

The Kim family’s survival story and the tragedy of the loss of the father has captured the attention of the nation this past week. Even at the funeral for an old and dear friend, it crept into the conversation and I was asked questions about it. I take no joy in having correctly predicted the [...]

I was answering questions from the audience during my recent AOPA Expo seminar, “Equipping Yourself to Survive – Personal Survival Gear for Pilots” when I was asked about exploding lithium batteries in view of my point that I recommend non-rechargeable lithium batteries over alkaline in survival gear like flashlights. I recommend them because they have [...]