MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRMAR, Calif. -- When an aircraft makes an emergency landing on water, the pilots and crew have only seconds to react, and with training from the Aviation Survival Training Center, the techniques they learn can save their lives.
Pilots and crewmen from different Navy and Marine Corps aircraft squadrons participated in the week-long water survival training at the ASTC Sept. 23.
“This training is a necessity and gives the crew valuable experience in the water while allowing us to get comfortable swimming with all of our gear,” said Sgt. Jeffrey Thomas, a CH-46 “Sea Knight” helicopter crew chief with Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Wearing flight suits, steel-toed boots and cranial helmets, the participants qualified in multiple water-survival exercises.
The first exercise required them to climb into a rescue basket and be hoisted out of the water by a large crane. This simulated being lifted into a helicopter.
The pilots and crewmen then jumped back in the pool, circled together, gained accountability and used team work to help each other get into a large, inflated life raft.
After the raft exercise, the participants practiced breathing through regulators while hanging upside down and underwater. The exercise prepared them for their next challenge.
Each participant strapped into a device called the swimmer, which looks like the seat of an aircraft. Once strapped in, they were turned over into the water. While upside down and submerged, the pilots and crewmen freed themselves from the harnesses and swam along a rail that led to a cage door. They each practiced opening the door and swimming through it.
“They train to be able to escape from a sinking aircraft,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ellis C. Gayles, the assistant director of ASTC. “They have to be able to free themselves, find their oxygen supplies and orientate themselves to the exit.”
All of the techniques learned at the training prepared the pilots and crewmen for their final test, the “Dunker.” The Dunker is a large steel enclosure that simulates the interior of a helicopter.
It is dropped into the water with the participants harnessed into its seats and then flipped upside down.
Each participant is required to free themselves and swim through the designated exits.
All of the participants completed their training requirements.
Pilots and crewmen are required to complete the training every four years, and the ASTC conducts the training every week. The training is available to all service members and civilians who meet the prerequisite swimming requirements. It is recommended that anyone who flies in aircraft attend the training.
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