Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

You haven't even presented any evidence Pete; perhaps you're projecting some? Really though, with the way Finn and the now former Poe crash-landed, there's not much to do except start walking in some direction. From what I can tell for being stranded somewhere, the best thing to do is stay put if you're not sure where to go. In this case though, staying put would mean hanging out near exploding sands. Probably not good odds of survival there.

Removing the white, probably heavy armor; good idea. Having mouth open for moisture loss; bad idea. Just holding jacket instead of protecting head with it or dropping it; worse idea. I guess it would be unfair to judge Finn's actions too harshly though. I would have to look up more desert survival tips if I was going to do any better I think; the closest desert to me is over 1200km/750mi away, and it's not even one of the endless sand dune kinds.

Hmmmm, I just thought of a way Poe might have lived through the crash and left their jacket behind. It's a little hard to tell in the clips from the cockpit, but I think he might have taken the jacket off after getting inside. And the fighter had an ejection seat for the gunner, so why not a second one for the pilot? The best way to survive a crash, after all, is to not be in the crash when it happens. If Poe did eject and survive, the question then is, how long until someone else remembers that and figures it out? With the GM in on the plan, Jim could end up playing a second character for a little bit just to throw everyone else off too.