# Canada True Survival Story



## ke4sky (Oct 21, 2008)

These men were extremely lucky to have been found. This makes the case for always having at least minimal survival gear on your person, rather than stowed away in the bailout bag. An affordable piece of emergency signalling gear is the laser flare. No sailor or private pilot should be without it.
Greatland Rescue Laser Flare

*Pilots survive night on ice floe *
BBC NEWS | Americas | Pilots survive night on ice floe

Two men who crash-landed their plane in freezing waters survived 18 hours on a tiny sheet of ice "huddled together like penguins".

The two - one Australian and the other Swedish - endured temperatures of -20C (-4F) after their Cessna plane ran into trouble over the far north of Canada.

*Their survival equipment sank with the plane and rescue aircraft responding to their Mayday call failed to find them. *
They were eventually rescued by a trawler and airlifted to hospital.

Australian Oliver Edwards-Neil, 25, and his Swedish flying partner Troels Hansen, 45, had been flying a Cessna Skymaster from the US to Sweden when both its engines failed over the Hudson Strait, just south of the Arctic Circle.

*Equipment lost *
They sent out a Mayday call before landing minutes later in water surrounded by tiny sheets of ice.

As the cockpit quickly filled with freezing water, they managed to scramble through a window and on to an ice sheet about 5m (16ft) wide and 10m long before the plane sank, with all their equipment on board.

Mr Edwards-Neil, who lives in Sweden, told the Sydney Morning Herald website that it was already dark and after two hours on the ice they heard rescue planes and helicopters circling.

We tried to keep each other warm and sheltered each other from the wind... like penguins.

*But without flares or even a torch the men had no way of attracting attention and the aircraft eventually flew away. *Mr Edwards-Neil said that their survival suits saved their lives.

"But I never thought I could freeze that much. I was shivering non-stop," he said.

"I was sure that I was not going to make it but my mate said 'You're going to get there.'

"We kept each other going and supported each other, and we tried to keep each other warm and sheltered each other from the wind... like penguins."

When daylight came, the men could see land in the distance and started to jump from one ice sheet to another to try to reach it.

It was then that they were found by a fishing boat that had also heard their Mayday call and headed to the scene.

The captain, Bo Mortensen, said the men were "weeping with joy" when the crew brought them aboard 7km (4.3 miles) from Baffin Island, in Canada's Nunavut territory.

He said the men looked to be in good shape apart from frostbite to their feet, but were "lucky to be alive".

Mr Edwards-Neil and Mr Hansen were later transferred by helicopter to a hospital in Iqaluit, Nunavut.


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## rainbowgardens (Oct 29, 2008)

Wow, negative four degrees, windy and wet!
And I complain about having to endure 55 degrees in our living room while watching T.V.
I guess my husband and I should try that penguin huddle thing!


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## JeepHammer (Oct 10, 2008)

Me and Girlfriend took a Spring time trip to Alaska a few years back, and the guy that flew the aircraft dropped us off in the wrong location, more than 200 miles from civilization!

The pilots up there have an 'Emergency Bag' handy at all times.
Usually has a pistol, flairs, stuff like that, and you can't make them put it down when they are out.
-----------------

For us getting dropped off 200 miles from the nearest town,
It was a 'Walk Out' or get lucky situation, so we walked out.
After an accidental dropping of a pack cut our supplies down to half, it was starting to look pretty serious, but it really wasn't a huge thing, and we met some people along the way that were just wonderful...

No injuries (except to my bank account, that camping gear isn't cheap!) and we didn't really even get hungry along the way...
Got tired of drinking just plain water, but other than that, it was an 'Adventure' instead of a 'Live or Die' situation.


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## bittersweetsymphony (Oct 10, 2008)

Oh my, I would rip that pilot a new one! I guess he got out of there pretty quickly seeing that he was already gone by the time you guys realized you were in the wrong destination. 

At least one good thing that came of it was some true real life experience! Can't beat that now! Also gave ya a taste of how it might be.
I always try to look on the bright side of things.....


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

It happened in Canada but it happened to an Australian and a Swedish guy. 

If Canadians had been in the plane crash they would have popped a two four and gone ice fishing.


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## Expeditioner (Jan 6, 2009)

ke4sky said:


> These men were extremely lucky to have been found. This makes the case for always having at least minimal survival gear on your person, rather than stowed away in the bailout bag. An affordable piece of emergency signalling gear is the laser flare. No sailor or private pilot should be without it.
> Greatland Rescue Laser Flare


Or at least a flashlight, a personal strobe light or lightsticks carried on your person.....


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