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I really enjoyed a recent thread that was put together by Bigrenna and ZZZ on emergency survival vests (complete with video). It's part of the BCP Knowledge Base .

https://www.backcountrypilot.org/community/forum/latest/knowledge-base-article-vid-survival-vest-18332

That got me thinking about a modern 2015/16 light weight emergency tool kit for light aircraft. Today there are new tools, new materials, new technology, and sometimes cheaper prices. These days you can buy all sorts of neat multi meters and carbon fiber tools for example.

Think Rans S7, Bearhawk Patrol, or some other small back country LSA or Experimental plane. I'm not sure what to say about tinkering with an out of service certified aircraft, so I'll let others chime in regarding those situations. What would you toss into your SOS tool kit? A couple of extra spark plugs ? Zip ties? Hose clamps ?











I don’t own a plane, but in my vehicles I have a small plastic fishing tackle box with simple emergency tools. Items include a valve stem wrench, duct tape, wrenches, electrical tape, wire leads with alligator clips, etc. So, the following question:

• Do you carry a light compact emergency tool kit in your small aircraft ?
• How big is it and how much does it weigh ?
• Is it a bag or a box or ?
• What items did you choose ?
• Ever had to use it to save the bacon so to speak ?
• For perspective, please state what plane & where you fly.

Maybe if this thread runs its course and gathers enough suggestions, the feedback can be gathered and summarized, and a " Suggested Tool Kit " can be described. Perhaps even a standard version and a version lite can be described. Also, I am sure if folks are running floats or skis there may a few extra odd tidbits included as well.

Tool bag about 10 lbs., open ends from 3/8th to 7/8 in. several snap on screwdrivers - a battery powered screw gun , A set of 3/8 thru 3/4 inch sockets with 3/8th drive and several extensions. A spark plug socket ,and several good plugs for engine ,water pump pliers , some vice grips ,20 ft. of .032 safety wire ,old pill bottle full of #8 ,10 screws ,roll of duct tape, all together about a hundred bucks . I'm partial to craftsman or better tools. And yes I've used this tool kit several times to get home. Add a "get me home jumper " or learn to hand prop your airplane.

My tool kit's about like Bill's, plus a couple crescent wrenches and a clamp-on jack pad. Some bailing wire, red shop rags, electrical tape, spare fuel quick drains (two different models), no spare plugs though. All in one of those green army surplus tool bags. Probably about like Bill's-- about a hundred bucks and 10 pounds worth. It's come in handy a number of times-- several times for someone else who didn't bother to carry tools (and probably still don't, the dumbasses), and probably "saved my bacon" twice.

I have used this a few times in the field. Add jack, tire pump and pressure gauge.

Cleaning out the airplane for its winter nap and all the junk in it. Let's see what a airplane mechanic who flys an ol beater 182 all over Alaska carries....
Cable pow'r pull- use this when I get really stuck on the beach and need to pull plane out because tide is coming in thank me for 29" tires. Bicycle air pump for pumping up flat tires after letting air out after getting really stuck on the beach. Spark plug for some other kind of motor then my plane, spark plug socket with nothing to turn it, tire tube patch kit with nothing to take apart wheel, hey the flashlight works!! Gas gap only have that because I found it on the ramp [emoji3] free bee oh yeah! McDonald's toy keeps kid quite for two seconds while looking for tool, lots of zip ties never used them, polyken tape only the best duct tape in the world fixes tents and holes in planes, multi screwdriver sigh, .032 wire fixes almost anything, and probably the most useless gab of hardware. I'm so embarrassed.

Oh but wait it gets better! Going through my extensive survival kit I find another tool. The multi tool of death I call it. A super fucking sharp micro hatchet coupled with thumb tack hammer separated with a finger pinching pair of pliers. Likely a mother in law "survival" tool that in a stroke of desperation for the ultimate tool kit I must have grabbed with great visions of myself turning that 7/8 spark plug socket with or something like that.

Holy shit. That's a multi tool.

From past experiences.... I carry what I need to take the wings off and otherwise secure the plane to be trucked out. I don't worry, and am not equipped, to do much on the Rotax if it gives it up. No spark plug tool for instance. I don't carry much in my various Toyota's either, they just are too reliable and if they do break I'm just screwed. About 6' of heavy gauge stainless safety wire, tie wraps, Gorilla and pipe wrap tape. A small bike handlebar bag carries it all. Needle nose, small vice grip, and small channel lock pliers, and a small pair of wire cutting pliers just for barb wire. A long fallen down barb wire fence on a 8600' ridge top caused me some a grief a few years ago, and that's when I discovered the wire cutter on the small needle nose I had carried the last 20 years just in case I had to cut some barb wire, couldn't!

I know Hal Stockman AKA Mr. Rotax Big Bore, carries enough tools in his S-7 to completely overhaul any gas engine on any aircraft or vehicle probably, and he knows how to use them, flying with him I leave my tool bag home!

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Zzz wrote:Holy shit. That's a multi tool.

No it's not -- where's the 22LR / .410 blade?

PAMR MX wrote:.........spark plug socket with nothing to turn it, tire tube patch kit with nothing to take apart wheel ......

Make a run to Sears-- a Craftsman 3/8 socket set and end wrench set will only set you back $35-40 and you'll be able to handle a lot more problems.

hotrod180 wrote:My tool kit's about like Bill's, plus a couple crescent wrenches and a clamp-on jack pad. Some bailing wire, red shop rags, electrical tape, spare fuel quick drains (two different models), no spare plugs though. All in one of those green army surplus tool bags. Probably about like Bill's-- about a hundred bucks and 10 pounds worth. It's come in handy a number of times-- several times for someone else who didn't bother to carry tools (and probably still don't, the dumbasses), and probably "saved my bacon" twice.

Forgot a couple items listed by other people-- zip-ties, foot-operated bicycle pump, cheapie belt axe.

@ Glacier:

Yikes... this is embarrassing. I searched the term emergency tool kits and completely missed that post you mention. My bad.

My tip of the hat to Grassstrippilot for his earlier thread titled : Backcountry tool/trip saver kit. I did not use the proper search terms. I don't know what the best term for such a kit would be. I missed using the term trip saver kit and perhaps should have searched more.

Apparently there was the making of a tool related thread even earlier than that. Maybe one of the admins like ZZZ or CrazyIvan can choose to combine them all or simply delete my latest one. I was going to delete my thread, but I don't want to do so since several other folks have posted as well. I thought the images posted were very helpful.

It seems that this concept goes hand in hand with the emergency vest concept, and some items in the vest, if carried, do not meed to be included in a tool kit. I also think there are recent developments which have made certain new technologies more affordable. Incidentally, although I am not a "Prepper", I visit a lot of gun websites and have read a lot of what folks put into their "bug out bags". So emergency survival vests, emergency tool kits, and bug out bags often have overlapping concerns.

I guess inadvertent duplication of threads will occasionally arise. In this case, the notion of an emergency tool kit is I think an important concept. Hopefully the admins can suggest some solutions.

Again, a tip of the hat to Grassstrippilot for addressing this topic earlier.

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@ Glacier

Thanks for the feedback. i actually posted a new thread asking on how to do better searches. Maybe I need to run things through Google, Bing, and Yahoo search.

I do know things change. I used to keep a roll of dimes so I could make emergency calls from a pay phone booth. I am really interested in the concept of an emergency tool kit.

I think I am wired this way from a very traumatic early childhood experience during which time I owned a French car, a Renault
I think I had a car issue for every 20 hours of operation. It died of a massive transmission failure, and no replacement parts, new or used were available.

No big deal, carry on. New thread, new blood, new information. I used to get uppity about topic duplication but without a good search I can't really expect you guys to consolidate every time. Plus some threads are just old. Sometimes a new thread is more inviting because people like to be the first or second responder.

The new program will just be to discuss and then distill the best information into knowledge base articles. Don't worry so much about thread dupe unless it's happening like every week.

Great thread Denali, thanks for posting. I carry a screwdriver if flying somewhere I can beg/borrow/steal tools or my usual "50 hour" toolkit if not.

Oh, and - heresy that may get me fired off this website - I love French cars. My (then) girlfriend and I drove one from Annaba to Tamanrasset and back one dusty long weekend. Somewhere in the Hoggar mountains we overtook a Touareg in his bone-shaker Landrover and after we all stopped at Assakrem he looked at our Renault 6 and said "chapeau". In 4,000+ miles of Saharan "roads" we suffered one flat tire and the washboard shook the electric radiator fan loose. That's it. R4, R6 and 404 parts were everywhere in those days but not always the ones we needed, because in a command economy you can rely on the civil servants not to order left and right driveshafts...

Back to topic, now that Algeria is relatively safe again I'm negotiating with ex-girlfriend (now wife) for a trip down to Tam with a brace of Maules. I'll probably pack the "annual" tools for that...

Clarkson advises me to ban you Jacko

OK, then I'll plead guilty and just ask the Court for my last four offences of "owning a Citroen with hydropneumatic suspension" to be taken into account.

Oops, and I nearly forgot, a Fr**ch airplane too (CAP 10 nearing end of rebuild)...

I started out with a basic Craftsman "auto tool kit" with a few screwdriver bits and handle and some open end wrenches and sockets, and added some airplane specific stuff, like safety wire and safety wire pliers, a gen-yoo-wine airplane spark plug wrench (a handle to turn it came with the Craftsman kit) and a Crescent wrench to for the spark plug wire nut, an aviation spark plug gapper, electrical tape, nylon wire ties, a really cool clamp-creator using wire (bought that one at OSH), a bicycle pump and a bottle of Stan's tire sealant (better than Slime) after a friend had a flat tail wheel, additional pliers (slip joint, needle nose, dykes), a bunch of various size screws, and most recently, a jack point. I also carry a small come-along, tie-downs (who doesn't carry those?), The Claw set, a quart of oil and funnel, aviation jumper cables, and probably other stuff I've forgotten.

Has any of that "saved" me? Well, about the only things I can think of right now is the oil and funnel, when preflight showed it needed oil at an otherwise "abandoned" airstrip, and I've probably used the tie-downs more than anything.

I like these sorts of threads--it shows me that I'm probably over-prepared, which I guess is better than under-prepared, right?

Cary