Garmin InReach and PLB are two very different devices. I carry one of each. The PLB goes in my survival vest, the In Reach is velcro'd to the front side of a windshield post. If I egress and the plane burns or sinks, the PLB will get the job done....ie: Call the troops out to rescue me.

On the other hand, if I simply have some sort of minor issue that might require a ride out of there or a part, the In Reach will do the deed.

I've not tried using an In Reach in tracking mode, with it inside the plane. Does that work for you?

MTV

As noted above, fire isn't the only concern we should have when it comes to garments.

Winter is just around the corner and for us northern climate kinda folks, that means we may need to change our basic "get up" so to speak to relate be appropriate for colder weather.

I always thought that the Department of Interior's policy on dress was pretty simple and easy to understand. To paraphrase, it required every occupant of an airplane, regardless of season, to be dressed appropriately for extended time on the ground over which the flight was to be conducted. Dress for conditions, assuming the worst could happen, in other words.

As noted above, cotton loses most of it's advantages in cool, cold or especially wet, conditions. Wool is the go to material for cool, damp conditions. Nowadays there are really nice Merino wool long underwear as well as wool outer wear, such as shirts, trousers, etc. And, I'm very impressed with the comfort of that stuff, at least compared to the wool long johns of decades past.

So, it's actually pretty easy to dress in mostly wool clothing in winter. The good news is that wool is also inherently slightly fire resistant. Department of Interior allowed substitution of wool for Nomex for low level ops in winter for that reason. But, there is also Nomex outerwear, including jackets, snow pants, parkas, gloves, etc.

In winter, your feet are really important, and you have to take care of them if you're out in the wilds. I generally wore Bata Bunny Boots in interior Alaska winters. They're about the only footwear that will keep your feet from freezing, even if your feet are wet. I've filled them with water after stepping in deep overflow, and simply removed the boot, dumped the water out, wrung out the sock (wool, of course) and put the boot back on.....at -30 F. And spent the rest of the day and half the evening getting unstuck. Try that with most other boots and see how it works. In particular, a lot of boots these days have some sort of nylon or synthetic material incorporated into the structure of the boot. Again, fire will melt that stuff, so try to stick with something all leather or rubber, like the Bunny Boots.

Gloves: In winter, I love the military style Nomex/leather gloves for a base layer. Then, if I'm going to be in and out of very cold stuff, a pair of heavy mittens hang on a lanyard around my neck. In milder weather, the Nomex gloves are enough for a lot of stuff.

Mainly, just give some thought to what you're wearing. As I noted in the first post of this thread, garments made from synthetic materials probably aren't appropriate for flying, regardless of weather. That said, there are some really good synthetic garments for winter survival......

MTV

StuBob wrote:So, what about winter pants?

Also not 100% wool but I've quite liked these pants from LL Bean.

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/120891? ... ants&pos=1

mtv wrote:I've not tried using an In Reach in tracking mode, with it inside the plane. Does that work for you?

I sat my InReach up on the dash, under the windshield, and it seemed to work fine for tracking. I'm in a Maule so fabric skin rather than aluminum if that makes a difference.

mtv wrote:I've not tried using an In Reach in tracking mode, with it inside the plane. Does that work for you?

MTV

I bought mine through the RAF, and it came with a carabiner that is perfect for clipping it to the steel tubing inside the cockpit – in plain sight, but out of the way. I use it with tracking mode on, and my wife can see where the plane it, whether it's moving, etc. It was a real comfort factor (to both of us, frankly) when I was flying over the rough terrain around Canyonlands National Park. While I was reasonably sure I could put the plane down somewhere I could walk away from, I went hours and hours at a time without seeing another plane, a car, or any other sign of human life, including "bars" on my phone...

Yes, I’ve run my In Reach on the instrument panel and Velcro’d to a window post.

What I’m wondering is if Itd work as well tracking if clipped to my survival vest. Guess I’ll have to try that and see.

MTV

StuBob ,
Woolrich “Malone “ wool trousers are a great choice imho and they also make wool bib overalls as do Johnson Woolen Mills and Filson . Bibs have a built in “man purse “ in the chest that is handy to store smaller possibles .
Filsons wool cruiser jackets , vests and wool Mackinaw coats cant be beat .
Although getting harder to find with the loss of so many underground and logging jobs , Canadian brand Stansfields heavy wool union suits are lifesavers .
Like MTV sez , all are still available and found for sale with a Google search .

These kind of discussions are exactly why I joined this forum. So much to learn from the vast experience.

Thanks all!

MW

I make a simple angle and mounted a In-Reach mount to the top of my panel .https ://www.amazon.com/Garmin-010-12525-00-Powered-Mount/dp/B01N2YKO3L/ref=pd_lpo_107_t_0/135-3076181-7869325?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01N2YKO3L&pd_rd_r=94281683-1939-4939-bf58-389255d90cd3&pd_rd_w=HXWfy&pd_rd_wg=dSfcm&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=ZWAEVCAD37FS1W703SM2&psc=1&refRID=ZWAEVCAD37FS1W703SM2 Plug it in and it will always have full charge when you stop. You can program the tracking to start and stop with the plane so you don't have to worry about turning it off. The only issue is it won't send a final location by itself you have to do that yourself. We had a recent issue with some AT&T numbers being blocked in Alaska. Caused a lot of heartache for people trying to message family while on hunts. I was able to do a workaround and found I could send a message by email. Excellent advice from Mike and the others on clothing.
DENNY

I clip my Inreach Mini to my survival vest with the carabiner, and I’ve had zero issues with the tracking from inside the plane. Can’t say I’ve tried it from the back seat though. Hope this helps.

I keep a winter jacket in the back. In the pockets are a pair of gloves, a wool hat, waterproof matches, and a mosquito face net. If carrying passenger I give them my spare SPOT to put into their pocket and show them how to use the SOS function.

Was just on a full day hiking trip in the mountains and had my SPOT in my right front pocket set to 5 min tracking on the way down from a glacier. Missed only a couple reports in two hours in the alpine. Down into deep forest is was "spottier" giving only 10 position reports in the next two hours. The last couple miles walking a logging road it performed about same as in the alpine.

Karmutzen wrote:I keep a winter jacket in the back. In the pockets are a pair of gloves, a wool hat, waterproof matches, and a mosquito face net. If carrying passenger I give them my spare SPOT to put into their pocket and show them how to use the SOS function.

Was just on a full day hiking trip in the mountains and had my SPOT in my right front pocket set to 5 min tracking on the way down from a glacier. Missed only a couple reports in two hours in the alpine. Down into deep forest is was "spottier" giving only 10 position reports in the next two hours. The last couple miles walking a logging road it performed about same as in the alpine.

Good intel, thanks.

By the way, for you SPOT users, I don't know if you've seen the latest on interference with Garmin 650/750 GPS units. That's not a good deal. My understanding, however, that so far, this is just panel mounts.....but it may just be that portable users haven't reported it.

MTV

mtv wrote:

Karmutzen wrote:By the way, for you SPOT users, I don't know if you've seen the latest on interference with Garmin 650/750 GPS units. That's not a good deal. My understanding, however, that so far, this is just panel mounts.....but it may just be that portable users haven't reported it.

MTV

That's funny...I'm an idiot and didn't pay attention to who posted .
John

mtv wrote:

Karmutzen wrote:I keep a winter jacket in the back. In the pockets are a pair of gloves, a wool hat, waterproof matches, and a mosquito face net. If carrying passenger I give them my spare SPOT to put into their pocket and show them how to use the SOS function.

Was just on a full day hiking trip in the mountains and had my SPOT in my right front pocket set to 5 min tracking on the way down from a glacier. Missed only a couple reports in two hours in the alpine. Down into deep forest is was "spottier" giving only 10 position reports in the next two hours. The last couple miles walking a logging road it performed about same as in the alpine.

Good intel, thanks.

By the way, for you SPOT users, I don't know if you've seen the latest on interference with Garmin 650/750 GPS units. That's not a good deal. My understanding, however, that so far, this is just panel mounts.....but it may just be that portable users haven't reported it.

MTV

No interference issues with my 796. Works great, neither have skipped a beat.

mtv wrote:
By the way, for you SPOT users, I don't know if you've seen the latest on interference with Garmin 650/750 GPS units. That's not a good deal. My understanding, however, that so far, this is just panel mounts.....but it may just be that portable users haven't reported it.

MTV

It’s a known issue with the Gen 3. Not sure about the SPOT X or the newer Bluetooth SPOT X. But with the Gen 3, the problem generally goes away when the device is relocated, often relocated by just a few inches.

StuBob wrote:

mtv wrote:
By the way, for you SPOT users, I don't know if you've seen the latest on interference with Garmin 650/750 GPS units. That's not a good deal. My understanding, however, that so far, this is just panel mounts.....but it may just be that portable users haven't reported it.

MTV

It’s a known issue with the Gen 3. Not sure about the SPOT X or the newer Bluetooth SPOT X. But with the Gen 3, the problem generally goes away when the device is relocated, often relocated by just a few inches.

According to the news release on this issue, the problem is that SPOT uses a frequency that's very close to the GPS frequency for it's transmissions. That frequency is common to ALL SPOT devices.

And, yes, moving the SPOT is the obvious solution. The reports I've read, however, some suggest that they had to move the SPOT to the baggage compartment. I'm guessing that you're not trying to move it away from the GPS itself, but rather away from the GPS antenna.....which is generally mounted on top of the plane.

Anyway, at least everything I've read is this issue only seems to affect the GNS 650/750, and not earlier Garmin units, like the 430/530, and apparently not portable units.

Though in the case of portable units, the SPOT may be having the same effect, but those units tend to reload really quickly, so the pilot may not be noticing.

And even with the 650/750, in VFR it's no big deal. In IFR, however, it could be a huge problem, particularly during an instrument approach procedure.

MTV