survival Archives - The Rotary Wing Show Podcast

Mike Atkinson has taken skills and knowledge from his aviation background and puts them to the test in survival adventures.

As an ex-Kiowa helicopter pilot, survival instructor RAAF fixed wing instructor, jet and 737 pilot Mike Atkinson has had opportunities to experience a range of aviation operations. So what does he do in his spare time?

in 1932 two German seaplane pilots found themselves off course and out of supplies in the Kimberley region of northern Australia. This is still a fairly remote area of the world and it was much more so in the 1930s.

The two aviators attempted to make it back to a population centre and after a number of attempts and setbacks were discovered close to death by local Aboriginal hunters. It is a fascinating tale well known in that part of Australia.

Mike Atkinson isn’t a stranger to interesting adventures. In the podcast episode he shares some of the close calls and more interesting times of his posting as a reconnaissance helicopter pilot in the Australian Army in Darwin.

“I did crazy expeditions outside of work like taking my 4m tinny from Darwin to Derby [3000 km+] and the Squadron being on standby with bets taken as to where I’d pull the EPIRB”

Mike was also able to avail himself of a survival instructor course run by NORFORCE , an army reserve unit that patrols remote parts of northern Australia. Australian Aboriginal soldiers form 60 per cent of the unit and here Mike was able to learn a lot about ‘bush tucker’ that is relevant to our discussion.

After trekking across Iceland solo and living in the Middle East desert with only two camels (mother and calf so that he could drink the milk) for company Mike decided that it might be a good? idea to see if he could put himself in the same situation, with the same equipment as the German aviators and survive.

And for added difficulty he would carry with him cameras and drones to film it all.

The result is an amazing film called Surviving the Outback.

In the episode we talk about flying, adventures, risk management, drones and the comparisons between careers in rotary wing vs fixed wing.

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Links from this week’s episode:
Support the podcast on Patreon

OutbackMike.com.au – Mike’s website where you can find out more about the film and his background
Surviving The Outback film – iTunes link to rent or purchase Mike’s film

An earlier adventure of Mike’s trekking solo across Iceland and some horrendous conditions. Mike’s camera work has come along way since then!

This footage below didn’t make the film but gives you an idea of the landscape and some of the unique filming/survival challenges on the trip.

Have a comment or feedback about Episode 75? Have a particular question for Mike about his trip or gear? Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.

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John is the UK military’s chief instructor in Land, Sea and Extreme Environment Survival. In this episode he talks about the priorities of survival should you find yourself forced to land in a remote location.

How much attention do you pay to what you wear or carry on you when you go flying? For some of us our organisation or company might mandate what equipment is carried – and that can start to add up, personal location beacon, knife, pocket flares, first aid kit, mirror, pistol, HEEDs bottle, whistle etc if you are military.

For many of us though it’s a wallet, keys and mobile phone. This episode will challenge you to think about what you will do if you get forced down due to weather or mechanical problem in a remote area and need to wait for rescue or recovery.

[Tweet “Most important thing is to have a good #rescue beacon with you. #helicopter”]

John takes us through the key elements of survival and how that relates to helicopter aircrew. As an ex-Puma pilot and now someone that trains UK military personnel including aircrew on survival John is able to talk about specifics such as using parts of the aircraft to help out.

I probably wouldn’t have thought of using the aircraft battery to help getting a fire going for example. Another key lesson is don’t go anywhere without a 406Mhz beacon.

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[Tweet “Stay with the airframe if you can. Much bigger footprint for search teams.”]

In this week’s episode:

01:43 John Hudson bio
03:20 Sergey Ananov rescue in the Arctic Circle Jul 2015
05:33 RAF helicopter training – Puma
06:40 Full time role as Defence survival instructor
08:35 Overseeing the training of other survival instructors
09:40 SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape)
11:30 Extreme survival environment training – deep snow, jungle
15:14 ‘Dude you’re screwed’ TV series on Discovery channel
18:16 Camera operators on the show while ‘surviving’
21:15 Training around the world for groups
23:00 Mental preparedness is a key factor
25:00 Make a cup of tea, allows time to think, glucose, heat to boil water
26:30 Muscle memory training – fire on start, aircraft evacuation, emergency briefing
29:50 Protection, Location, Water, Food
30:30 Protection – first aid, clothing, shelter, fire (fire first in cold environment)
34:46 Location – 121.5MHz no longer satellite monitored, want a 406MHz beacon, big ground signals, flightplan before you go
39:10 Water – limiting factor in longer survival, must be clean but…. , ‘big bubbles, no troubles’, methods of sterilization
41:30 Food – glucose type sweets don’t require water to process
42:35 Practical equipment to take flying, cutting tool, grab bag, signal mirror, compass on your watch strap
46:30 Resources you can repurpose from airframe – radios if they still work, battery to start a fire, tires for black signal smoke, insulation fabric, fuel for fire and cooking, piping/ducting to carry or store water
50:30 Leadership and passengers – 75% chance that any individual will be stunned and bewildered. Panic is not that common but contagious. Give them tasks to keep busy.
55:10 Books – South: Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic survival story from early 1900s, When I Fell From The Sky, Juliane Koepcke, survived 10,000’ fall into jungle, Royal Marines Survival Handbook by Colin Towell
58:40 Top take away ideas from the interview
1:00:00 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com

Links from this week’s episode:
John’s personal website – johnhudsonsurvival.com
Survival Wisdom website and resources
Dude You’re Screwed TV series website
BBC Article on Sergey Ananov’s survival story
Royal Marines Survival Handbook by Colin Towell

Snippet from a Dude You’re Screwed episode – John making a cup of tea
[leadplayer_vid id=”56052A5FAC8C2″]

John training in the snow with UK military

[Tweet “Make a cup of tea, allows time to think, glucose, heat to boil water @jhsurvival”]
[Tweet “Survival is not one huge task, it’s a series of little tasks”]

Got a question for John that we didn’t cover in the episode or a survival tip? Continue the conversation in the comments below.

Tag: survival

RWS 75 – Adventures and Survival with Mike Atkinson

RWS 36 – Survival and Rescue with John Hudson