Winter Survival Exercise

Team Members: Alina Dragan, Eric Buras, Maxwell Heinemann, Umer Mehtab, Areeba

Qureshi, Abhishek Suryawanshi, Delaney Young

Captain: Areeba Qureshi

Overview:

Location: Either North Minnesota or Southern Manitoba

We are not sure of our location because since the pilot was trying to avoid the storm, we

went off planned route. All we know is that we were 80 miles northwest of a small town.

Month: January

Land: Thick woods and broken by many lakes and rivers

Temperature: -25 degrees in the daytime and -40 degrees during the nighttime

Clothes: Men and women are wearing business attire (pants and jackets), street shoes, and

overcoats

Question 1: Decide if you are staying at the crash site or leaving... everyone has to do the

same thing (no splitting up of your group) ... this will play a role in how you rank the items as

a team.

I think that the survivors should stay at the crash site, because they will be easily

traceable by the rescuing team. The air defense will inform the rescue team about the crash, and

they will track black box of the plane.

In order for our team to leave the crash site, we would have to answer yes to the

following questions: are we in good health, are we able to walk for long period of times, will we

survive with the clothes we are wearing, and what type of resources we have as food and water.
If we were to say no to any of those questions, then we should stay and not risk the trip. I think

we should stay at our crashing site for a few days since we need have access to items left on the

airplane; hoping the plane did not catch on fire. Once we have gotten all resources from the plane

we need to stretch them out until the last bit and begin creating S.O.S signs for planes. I do

believe that once we have very limited source of food, water, and no one has found us, we might

have to start journey in finding that small town.

Final Thought:

Reading through our teammates’ comments, we have decided to stay in our crash site, until

someone rescues us. We believe that it would benefit us because we can use our resources to stay

alive and have a higher chance of rescue. Depending how badly the airplane crashed, we could

find resources in the airplane, such as: blankets, packaged meals, drinks, and water. These

resources should allow us to pass a few days or weeks without no problem. Since our surrounds

are surrounded why water and woods, we could find ways of creating a large S.O.S sign, in case

a airplane passes by.

Question 2: Group Ranking

Items Team Ranking from 1-15

Compress kit w/28 ft., 6. This would be important in case of any injuries, or if we were to be
stranded for an extended period of time.
2’ gauze

Ball of steel Kool 5. Used with cigarette lighter to produce flint & steel.
 Cigarette lighter 2. We can use the sparks to light the wool on fire

without fluid

Loaded 0.45 caliber 4. We could use it as self-defense, but it’s the loudest tool we have in

pistol case the fire goes out.

Newspaper (1 per 15. We can wipe our butts with leaves. We would be in survival mode

person) and have each other to talk to, so this wouldn’t be a necessity.

Compass 8. If at a certain point we decide to leave the crash site this would be a

necessity, so we wouldn’t walk in circles.

Two ski poles 12. Maybe we could use these to defend ourselves? It wouldn’t help

us navigate without the actual skies.

Knife 3. Multi-use tool. Hunting, making weapons/sharpening sticks,

cauterizing wounds if necessary (can be heated up and used for even

more things)

Sectional air map 13. We’re already on the ground and have no idea where we are. This
would be unusable.
(plastic)

30 ft. of rope 7. I’m not sure how we would use rope, but there is always a way you

could use it.

Family-size chocolate 14. We could eat this and maybe survive a few more hours. Not much

bar (1 per person) nutrition in a single chocolate bar.

 Flashlight with 9. It would be pitch black at night, so we would need to see.

batteries

Quart of 85-proof 10. This could keep us hydrated for a little while. I am not sure if

whiskey there is snow on the ground that we could use for hydration.

Extra shirt and pants 1. I believe this is the most important on the list because due to

for each person how cold the weather will be. We would all die if we didn’t have

this extra warmth.

Can of shortening 12. It can be used for the generating fire. If we rub it on the woods,

then the fire will burn better if the wood is wet.