ANSWER
Thanks for playing "The Gilligan Dilemma". My two favorite answers are below, and you can review all of the replies to date at
But first a little background: This question was posed to a small group of us a while back, and most of us answered with the typical survival-type scenarios: swim for the other island, scavenge for food, build a fire, that sort of stuff. However, we were struck that a significant minority answered that their first priority would be to provide for a proper burial, or at least memorial, for the dead pilot and co-pilot. A noble (if impractical) thought, but one that honestly never occurred to me. We were curious to see if this trend held up in a larger population. Based on our completely unscientific, and still statistically insignificant, sampling, it does not. However, just about everyone came up with at least one good idea that the rest of us hadn't thought of. All in all, it was an interesting experiment, and our thanks goes out to everyone who participated. (We may try something like this again in the future - I have an idea for the next one, and it could be a lot of fun, or it could end up in the emergency room - more on that at a future date.)
Favorite answer #1:
Well, I've thought about it for a week and the only realistic answer is that unless we were found with a few days, I would die.
I'm a 54 year old, overweight, couch potato who is not going to be appearing on any upcoming episodes of Survivor. I can't swim and although I do enjoy sushi, the idea of living on raw seafood makes me ill.
The only way I would survive is if the Professor happened to be on the same plane. Then he could build us a cell phone out of coconuts so we could call for help.
-- bob
Favorite answer #2
Originating in San Juan, this flight would be subject to US flight regulations. This has two implications: 1. A flight plan would have been filed. 2. The plane would have been rated for over water flight, so there would be life rafts and epirbs (automatic locator beacons) aboard. Furthermore, my 11 friends and I drink copious amounts of rum when on vacation in the Caribbean, so the private charter aircraft would have been well stocked--we were likely on our way to a chartered sail boat. The plane did not sink, so it must be stuck in the sand in relatively shallow water. So the plan would unfold as follows:
-swim to the plane, load rum into a raft and return to the beach.
-drink some rum and contemplate life away from the civilized world.
-return to the plane to verify the epirb is working and salvage anything useful.
-quench thirst with some more rum.
-strip off wet clothing. The local storm has passed, and the tropical storm has not yet arrived.
-toast our good fortune of living through a plane crash.
-return to the plane, remove the pilot and copilot, and try to surf the building waves back to the beach.
-ceremoniously toast the valiant pilot and copilot.
-Toast the coast guard for their outstanding search and rescue capabilities.
At this point, there would be 12 drunken, naked men on a deserted island. We would have no recourse but to hold a tribal council and vote someone off the island, as that would mean more rum for the survivors. We would then hope for a speedy rescue--no toilet paper could have survived this ordeal.
Brett
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