There are a number of techniques that you can choose to use if you are in distress in the outdoors, depending upon your location and the severity of the situation. This can include shouting for help, calling for help using your phone or taking refuge on someone else’s property. However, if you are in the wilderness and a rescue party is expected to come and retrieve you, then there is a five-symbol standard ground-to-air emergency technique to signal various critical messages to the aircraft and rescue team.
These rescue codes will first and foremost alert the rescue aircraft about your precise location along with the information of any injured personnel requiring urgent help. The five ground-to-air emergency symbols are as follows:
V: Require Assistance
Making a V shape on the ground will clearly indicate that you are in distress and that you need assistance. However, ‘V’ means that although you need assistance as soon as possible, there is no health emergency or severe injury amongst those on the ground.
X: Require Medical Assistance
You can use the code X to communicate to the rescue aircraft that you or someone in your group has been injured and is in need of urgent medical assistance. You should not be confusing the X with a V symbol since both indicate help but the message conveyed is different.
N: No or Negative
Often, depending on the individual situation, rescue personnel need to ask some specific information from you regarding the situation on the ground. Due to the elevation, it is not easy to convey the message by shouting, so you can draw a simple N on the ground to give them an answer in the negative.
Y: Yes or Affirmative
Just like N, you can use the symbol Y to answer affirmatively to the inquiry by the aircraft or the rescue organization. Be mindful of the fact that despite your urge to convey more details, a simple yes or no often suffices for the purposes of rescue.
