MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- More than 20 Marines and sailors from various West Coast installations completed a two-day aircrew indoctrination training course at the Aviation Survival Training Center here Jan. 25.

 The training helps prepare all members of a flight crew for emergency situations that can arise during flight, explained Petty Officer 2nd Class George Abdelsayed, a hospital corpsman at ASTC.

 “All aircrew members are required to complete this training, regardless of their rank,” said Abdelsayed. “The course teaches them how to prepare for emergencies, what to do if one occurs and how to survive until rescue arrives.”

 Students perform a swim qualification test before being allowed into the training, according to Cpl. Andrew Min, an intelligence analyst with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165 and participant in the training.

 The students learned to inflate their emergency flotation devices and other safety devices before hitting the water to simulate their rescue.

 After the initial training, aircrew separated based on the type of aircraft they fly.

 “Our participants from the jet community complete ejection seat and hypoxia training,” said Abdelsayed. “Hypoxia occurs when there isn’t enough oxygen in the air. The training here teaches the pilot what it feels like and the proper procedures to take if they experience it.”

 As part of the ejection seat training, pilots simulated being dragged by a parachute, explained Abdelsayed. During the training, which occurs in the ASTC survival swimming pool, pilots must rotate themselves upright and remove their parachute. Since the crew aboard a helicopter doesn’t fly at high altitudes or have ejection seats they don’t participate in this portion of the training, he added.

 The training also ensures both helicopter and fixed-wing aircrews are prepared for sea rescue, explained Abdelsayed.

 The students gathered in a rescue circle prior to receiving the instructions for the next part of their course. After a short instructional period the students struggled to upright a capsized vessel.

 After flipping their rescue raft, the students helped their water soaked brethren board the raft in preparation for their aerial rescue, according to Min.

 While being sprayed with a frigid downwash from a simulated rescue helicopter and pelted with hurricane force winds the students connected themselves to a hoist in order to be raised to a simulated rescue aircraft.

 “My favorite part of the whole course was the hoist, because I felt like I was really being rescued and I know that if the moment comes when I need to be rescued I can trust whoever is lifting me out of the water with my life,” said Min.

 During the course, the students also learn underwater egress procedures.

 “The egress training is important because in a situation where an aircraft goes down everyone needs to be on the same page,” said Abdelsayed. “If they aren’t it could cost them their lives.”

 This section of the training covers exit procedures for a variety of military aircraft including the CH-53 Super Stallion, the CH-46 Sea Knight and the MV-22 Osprey.

 Learning the different aircraft procedures was an important part of the training because each has a different mechanism to open the emergency exits, explained Min.'

 After familiarizing the aircrew with exit procedures in a shallow pool, the course instructors put the students in an aircraft dunker, explained Abdelsayed.

 The dunker, which drops a simulated aircraft into a 15-foot pool, flips underwater and allows the aircrew to experience how top heavy aircraft rotates.

 “The dunker puts them into a real life situation,” said Abdelsayed. “First we simulate a daytime crash and after they get more confident we give them blackout goggles to simulate nighttime.”

 Overall, the students learned a lot from the course, according to Min.

 “This course is outstanding and I feel more prepared for a mishap now that I’ve gone through this training,” said Min.

 The ASTC here is one of only three military survival centers on the West Coast and also has courses designed for aircrew to refresh their training, which is required once every four years, according to Abdelsayed.