2021-06-20, 01:32 PM
Probably the best thing they could have done to signal once their vehicle was hopelessly stuck would have been to set the spare tire on fire during daylight hours in calm wind conditions. This can be done by using motor oil to get the tire burning and the tire will burn for quite some time. The sooty smoke is very visible from the air and given their location would have had a good chance of being seen by a military pilot who would have investigated. If it doesn’t work one day then take off another wheel and try again.
But that’s assuming a whole lot of advanced knowledge about what the best thing to do in that situation in that particular region would be. Anyone with that knowledge would probably not have ended up in the situation in the first place. Like most tragedies it was a cascade of decisions that led to the outcome and while clever signaling might have saved them there were many simpler decisions that could have been made earlier to avoid tragedy.
These days the solution is trivial: carry satellite based emergency communications which are small, lightweight and a modest single upfront cost.
But that’s assuming a whole lot of advanced knowledge about what the best thing to do in that situation in that particular region would be. Anyone with that knowledge would probably not have ended up in the situation in the first place. Like most tragedies it was a cascade of decisions that led to the outcome and while clever signaling might have saved them there were many simpler decisions that could have been made earlier to avoid tragedy.
These days the solution is trivial: carry satellite based emergency communications which are small, lightweight and a modest single upfront cost.