Montana Department of Transportation

Aviation Winter Survival

The visibility looking out the front window of the airplane had gone from bad to worse in just a couple of minutes. The pilot had waited too long to turn around and was now straining to see through the blinding snow.

In a flash, the pilot saw trees in the windscreen the second before the airplane plowed into them. Everyone aboard the airplane survived, but not without injuries. It would be a long, cold night and the survival of the pilot and passengers was in question.

Would you be prepared to survive if you found yourself in this situation?

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) Aeronautics Division sponsored a winter survival clinic in Marion, Montana last weekend. The program began with a lecture on no-engine emergency landings, and covered many different aspects of surviving a winter crash, from food procurement to building survival shelters.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry and Flathead Undersheriff Jordan White trained participants on emergency medical techniques, including immobilization of broken bones, burn and shock treatment, and wound care. Participants also spent time out in the elements learning medical techniques.

Frank Bowen, a Special Forces survival trainer, Perry Brown, and Doug Dryden provided instruction on surviving in cold weather, and participants had the option to spend the night in survival huts of their own making.

By all accounts, the participants found that staying alive in a cold weather environment would be a lot more difficult than they had imagined, and that being prepared is the key to survival.

view additional images from the weekend