Universal Emergency Signals

**Alpine_Sapper** · 04-05-2008, 01:11 AM

This came out of "The Backpacker's Field Manual", by Rick Curtis. The guy is the Director of Princton University Outdoor Action.

The following signals are for strip signals, recommended to be built from rocks or tree branches or dug in the ground and are designed to be seen from the air. Make your signal big ( 20 feet long or 6 meters) so that it can be seen from a distance, and select a highly visible location. the universal signals follow:

NOTE: I didn't feel like drawing these in a graphics program, so the ones that didn't correspond to a key on the keyboard I simply described it. If you don't know what a square or a triangle looks like, well, you got bigger problems than being lost in the woods.

| - require doctor Serious injury

|| - require medical supplies

F - require food and water

K - Indicate direction to proceed

X - Unable to proceed

LL - All is well

N - No, Negative

Y - Yes, Affirmative

directional arrow - Am proceeding this direction

a square - require map and compass

triangle - probably safe to land here

JL - This is actually not a J, but a backwards L, fowards L. Means "Do Not
Understand"

Now, my question is, who is going to be creating 20 foot signals for things like "Do Not Understand" out in the wilderness? Who are you talking to? What don't you understand, why you got lost? And, if you do put out a signal like "require map and compass", WHY DIDN'T YOU STAY PUT?!?!

**Tony uk** · 04-05-2008, 07:28 AM

I would prefer a big SOS signal myself, It gets the main point across

**crashdive123** · 04-05-2008, 07:41 PM

The one that's easier for me to remember is signaling with a distress signal. When you decide to stay put and wait for rescue, prepare help signals as soon as possible.

The international emergency sign for distress is three of any signal: three shots, three blasts on a whistle, three flashes with a mirror, or three fires evenly spaced. If you’re near an open space, walk an “X” in the snow, grass, or sand. Make it as large as possible so that it can be seen easily from the air. Placing branches, logs, or rocks along the “X” will make it more visible. Do not light signal fires until you hear an aircraft. Adding green boughs, preferably pine if available, to the fire will help create smoke.

Or as Tony said - SOS - (more three's)

**vagrant** · 04-06-2008, 08:58 PM

Bit of Trivia: 3 dots, 3 dashes, 3 dots, with no spacing, is the International Morse Code Distress Signal that coincides with the letters SOS. Later, phrases such as "Save Our Ship" and "Save Our Soul" were used to help remember the distress signal. It was originally a sequence used as a distress signal In German regulations adopted internationally around 1905.

As crash has stated also is the 3 of anything signal. Even something as simple as 3 logs or 3 lanes scratched out of the ground is considered a distress signal by air. e.g. |||

**Teacher** · 04-06-2008, 09:19 PM

When you shoot up a flare, dont aim at the aircraft. It REALLY annoys the pilot. Had a student almost shoot down his ride home one time.

**canid** · 04-06-2008, 09:25 PM

you would have to be really good to come close to hitting even a low flying aircraft with a rocket flare. you would have to be extremely unlucky on top of that to damage the craft.

**Teacher** · 04-06-2008, 09:29 PM

It had to happen to some one or people wouldnt talk about it. Yes, he was the unlucky individual that got talked about. He should have bought a lottery ticket instead.

**canid** · 04-06-2008, 09:30 PM

lol. good thinking.

another compelling reason for firing the flare at a right angle to the path from you to the plane is that the trail will appear longer and thus the flare will have the greatest visibility. all the better if you fire it along on the oposite side of the sun from the plane, as glare won't outshine the signal and you'll get greater contrast.