Experience is part of the equation it; it's also about mindset and the strength of the mind to deal with a real survival situation. If it was experience only that dictated the outcome of any survival situation, then there wouldn't be stories of people with no survival experience making it through ordeals in which they were lost for days or weeks in dangerous environments. How does a young child with zero training survive in the wilderness, for example, while others might die in the same situation? In the end, the strength of the mind and how it copes when put in a situation of danger or terror is a huge factor. The world's best surgeon might not be able to perform so well after surviving a plane crash; similarly, the 'heroic' police officer may fail in an emergency while the 'average' one triumphs. There simply is never any guarantee - even with advanced training - how a person will cope during a real emergency.
The whole point was for Bailey to establish the 'do's' and 'don'ts' of a survival situation at the beginning of the story, and then contradict himself and break them all in turn as the situation gradually escapes his control. That was always meant to be the actual story; a case of his own advice coming back to haunt him.
Once again we go back to the point about the mind: training might give you the knowledge you need, but it's not worth much if you don't have the mindset to go with it. And because Bailey had never been in a real survival situation in the first place, he didn't know, despite all his alleged training, how he would react in one if one were to happen to him.
There is NO guarantee GPS will work when out of the range of cell phone towers, least of all in isolated wilderness areas. There are accounts of people following GPS and still being lead astray. Technology, while being an asset, is no guarantee.
It's a legacy of the arrogance we see early on: he's done this so many times, after all, he assumes he doesn't need matches, a compass or a map. Of course they were all situations in which things went smoothly; Bailey, of course, had no idea how he would cope or react if things were to go bad. He simply assumed he would thrive, but instead found himself out of his depth, emotionally and mentally.
Running time limitations. There was simply no time to show him using every light creating method known to mankind.
Bailey is out there shooting a commercial venture for his own - as implied, failing - business needs, so therefore he would make an attempt to shoot things somewhat effectively and professionally. In addition, when his editor tells him that a movie producer is interested in his material, a part of Bailey's mind would always be aware of the fact that the footage he is shooting could potentially bring him great wealth, so even when he is recording a terrifying situation, he would still be making an effort to do it as well as possible.
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