One Gallon?

One gallon survival gets its name from the quest for an aviation survival kit that weighs less than one gallon of 100 octane low lead aviation gasoline (100LL); six pounds.

If you look at most aviation survival kits on the market, you're presented with a heavy bag full of junk that offers little in the way of the immediate needs of a pilot and passengers presented with a survival situation after a crash-landing. If a pilot were to crash-land in the middle of the forest in the high rockies, he and his passengers would probably freeze to death long before they deploy their 'emergency kit.'

Many aviation survival kits contain copious amounts of food and water--items that are both heavy and mostly unnecessary. Mylar emergency 'space blankets' may seem great, but have you ever used one of those things out in the open? In order to understand survival, you have to understand the mechanisms that threaten your survival.  Here are a couple of YouTube videos by the late Ron Hood that are must-watch for an understanding of basic survival tips. Remember the five mechanisms for heat loss and the rule of threes, and you'll go a long way toward helping yourself out of a survival situation:


One company focusing on aviation survival sells a kit for over $100 that sells elsewhere for $30. It's difficult to discern the supplier of the kit, because they provide no identifying information. Just because it's aviation focused doesn't mean it needs to cost more!

For the past few weeks, I've been contacting vendors and making special arrangements to offer some of the highest quality equipment on the market, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the price. My goal is to keep each kit under six pounds. This means the pilot of a two-seat Aviat Husky burning 7.7 gallons per hour at 55 percent power only needs to leave 7 minutes 45 seconds of fuel in the tank to accomodate the extra weight. Give us a few minutes of your time, and we'll give you a much better chance of survival!

If you're asking yourself how I'm qualified to put together an aviation survival kit, just visit the 'About' page to read about me.