Survival guides · Family & Communication

Signal for Rescue

ACT NOWYou're stranded and need to be found. Use every signal you have, at once.

1. Call first, if you can

   • Any bars? Call or text 911.
   • No signal? Dial 911 anyway — iPhone 14 and newer offer to text 911 by satellite. Get outside, clear view of the sky.
   • Then save the battery — turn it off between tries.

2. By day

   
   • Signal mirror — the flash can be seen for 10+ miles.
   • Hold it by your eye. Stretch your other hand toward the plane or boat.
   • Tilt until the light hits your hand, then the target.
   • Sweep it slowly across the target — fast flashing can look like gunfire, and don't hold it on the cockpit more than a few seconds.
   • No mirror? Anything shiny.
   • Spread bright clothing or a mylar blanket on open ground.

3. By night

   • Fire. Three in a triangle is the distress signal. One big fire on high ground works too.
   • A flashlight or phone screen carries for miles — flash SOS: 3 short, 3 long, 3 short.
   • Glow sticks, road flares.

4. Sound

   • A whistle carries up to a mile and costs no energy.
   • Three blasts, pause, repeat.
   • Car horn, banging on metal.
   • Save your voice for when rescuers are close.

5. For aircraft

   
   • Big: about 20 feet long, each arm 3 feet wide. Sharp contrast with the ground.
   • Rocks, logs, clothing, or tramped into snow or sand.
   • V = need help. X = need medical help. → = going this way.
   • Stay by it. Wave both arms slowly when a plane comes.

Sources: US Army FM 3-05.70 Survival (ch. 19, Signaling Techniques) · US Coast Guard Visual Distress Signals

General information to help in an emergency — not a substitute for training or professional care.