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Military
Courses
Marines Take a Plunge in Helo Dunker
By Cpl. Ryan D. Libbert
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa, Japan — The water rushes into every
orifice of your body making it hard to think, making it hard to
breathe. Your body is thrown around from the violent impact as you
are placed into a small chamber with rising water quickly consuming
it. The panic that sets in normally leads service members to drown
during a helicopter crash into the ocean, but with proper training
Marines are starting to gather confidence in surviving such a horrific
event.
The Helo Dunker located at Camp Hansen is the main tool in teaching
Marines how to survive a helicopter crash over water. By placing
Marines in a chamber resembling the troop area of a CH-46 Sea Knight
or CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter, the device develops survival
techniques for Marines according to Armando Alonso, site manager
for Survival Systems USA’s Okinawa office.
"Our purpose is to instruct Marines on how to properly egress
a ditched helicopter anywhere in the ocean," Alonso said. "The
Marine Corps has been using the helo dunker on Okinawa since August
of 2002."
The helo dunker, also referred to as the Modular Amphibious Egress
Trainer or MAET, has been a part of educating Marines in water survival
for several years.
The helo dunker has become more prominent in training Marines recently
Seven Marines lost their lives via drowning in the Pacific Ocean
after a deadly helicopter crash off the coast of Miramar, Calif.
in December 1999. The following investigation proved the helo dunker
should be used more often to properly train Marines when a similar
event occurs again.
Since its development, the Marine Corps has installed a helo dunker
at Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune and Hawaii with the newest on Okinawa.
"Since the installation of the helo dunker on Hansen we have
trained almost 2,000 Marines on how to properly egress a helicopter,"
Alonso said. "We cannot determine exactly how many lives the
MAET has saved, but we have received testimonials from individuals
who have survived a crash by applying what they have learned here."
The helo dunker is lowered into the water at 2.5 meters per second
via a mechanical system. It also has the capability to spin around
while being lowered giving more realism to the training while disorienting
the Marines in it.
"Before I went through this training I never thought about
a helicopter crashing when I’m riding in it," said Lance
Cpl. Robert A. Vasquez, antitank assault guided missileman from
Company G, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. "I think this
is the most realistic training Marines can get without actually
crashing."
After training nearly 2,000 Marines on advanced water survival,
Alonso reflects on the success of the helo dunker and is proud to
have educated Marines on how to properly egress from a helicopter.
"The most common fear Marines have before going through the
process is being in an enclosed space with a seat belt on as water
rushes in over your head," Alonso concluded. "When it
is all done and over with I think each Marine has a higher level
of confidence in surviving a ditched helicopter."
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The
helo dunker at the Camp Hansen pool swings in the breeze as Marines
from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment and an instructor
from Survival Systems USA prepare to be ditched into the water. Nearly
2000 Marines have trained in the dunker since its debut in August
2002.
Photo by: Cpl. Ryan D. Libbert |
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Lance
Cpl. Robert A. Vasquez, antitank assault guided missleman from Company
G, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, assumes his crash position
inside the helo dunker moments before being submerged. The helo dunker
is designed to give Marines a realistic experience of crash landing
in a ditched helicopter over water.
Photo by: Cpl. Ryan D. Libbert |
U.S.
Army
Aircrew Ditching Course
Submitted By:
CPT Gifford Jones, U.S. Army
Chad J. Copeland, Survival Systems USA
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One
of the Army’s most progressive training schools opened for Army
Aviation in January. The United States Army has recently introduced
The Aircrew Ditching Course (ADC) at Ft.Rucker, Alabama. This is one
of the Army’s finest acknowledgements of the emerging joint
operations involving overwater flight. The course is comprised of
16 hours of intense training on how to prepare for an over water ditching,
appropriate egress procedures, and surface survival techniques while
awaiting rescue. The course also incorporates the Aqua Lung SEA MK2
Emergency Breathing System (EBS) to allow aircrew to breathe underwater
and execute necessary steps to survive an aircraft ditching. The course
is punctuated by one of the most advanced underwater escape trainers
in the world. The Modular Escape Training System (METS™) designed
by Survival Systems USA Inc. (SSUSA) accurately replicates the AH-64,
UH-60, CH-47, and OH-58 helicopters. The trainer allows aircrew to
enter their familiar aircraft environment, ditch and invert in a 90,000
gallon training tank, and escape from the trainer while closely supervised
by the Survival Systems staff. The 2-day training course is comprised
of 8 hours of academic instruction and 8 hours of practical application.
On the first day of training the students are given a tour of the
facility followed by 4 hours of academic instruction. The academics
are comprised from 22 years of experience, research, and development
on how to survive an overwater ditching. Everything from the history
of aircraft ditching to the appropriate brace position to minimize
bodily injury, steps to safely egress the aircraft, and how to safely
employ the EBS are thoroughly covered by the Survival Systems USA
instructional staff. The EBS instruction is a course on the dangers
of breathing compressed air, compressed air physics, and how the SEA
MK2 works and is properly maintained. The afternoon session builds
on the lessons taught in the class through practical application.
The students are introduced to the Shallow Water Egress Trainer (SWET),
where they practice egress procedures while turned upside down in
a shallow and controlled training environment. The first lessons are
all on breath hold to allow the student to concentrate on egress procedures
and build confidence in their ability to perform. Once the student
is comfortable with egress procedures, they are placed in the METS™
in their appropriate crew station next to their appropriate aircraft
exit (UH-60, OH-58 etc.). All of the exits on the METS™ are
custom built to accurately represent an actual aircraft exit. The
flight controls, stroking seats, and armor plating all simulate actual
movements in a crash sequence. The entire METS™ is built as
close to aircraft specifications as possible to ensure the aircrew
gets an accurate feel for their own helicopter during egress. The
students go through multiple evolutions that gradually become more
difficult. Starting with doors off and concluding with traveling to
a secondary exit, jettisoning the exit while upside down and egressing
safely. After successful breath hold exercises, EBS is introduced
to the aircrew and applied to the egress skills they have already
learned. The aircrews learn how to clear and breath upside down, practice
in the SWET, then return to the METS™ to include using the EBS
during egress sequences and further increase their confidence in egressing
underwater.
The progressive training of day 1 is reinforced in day 2. 4 more hours
of advanced academics on surface survival, life raft use, cabin evacuation,
and review of the previous days initiate the start of day 2 training.
The student will continue to deal with complex underwater egress scenarios
until they master the skills by demonstrating the ability to egress
an aircraft upside down, under water, in the dark, with an EBS, through
a secondary exit. The confidence a pilot expresses after completing
this final evolution is significant. The class continues the practical
exercises doing group drills. The class is loaded into the METS™
and taught how to organize a surface evacuation; this exercise is
complicated by the addition of smoke generators to restrict visibility.
The students evacuate the aircraft, activate CO2 cartridges in their
life preservers, and organize the group to inflate and enter a real
life raft. The aircrew is also shown group formations to lock into,
if a life raft is not available. During these group formations the
aircrew is shown how to care for an injured person, move as a group,
and stay together in rough seas. By the end of the second day the
class is physically exhausted and extremely proud of the survival
education they now posses.
This facility is the first fully equipped and Survival Systems USA
staffed over water training device for the U.S. Army. The student
feedback has been positive to say the least. This program supports
the new AR 95-3 expected to be approved soon and gives the Army a
standard of excellence that is not matched by any other Department
of Defense service. This course is the Army’s first Aircrew
Ditching Course to be fully integrated into the Army Systematic Approach
to Training (ASAT) to insure future over water training sites follow
the same high standard of training.
This training center represents the dedication of the U.S. Army’s
leaders to its aircrews and recognizes the value of every War Fighter. |
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For
more information, please contact us at:
Survival Systems USA, Inc.
144 Tower Avenue,
Groton, CT 06340
Phone: 860-405-0002
Toll-free: 888-386-5371 Fax: 860-405-0006 |
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