Photo By Christopher Freeman | A trooper from 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd...... read more read more
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CHERRY POINT, N.C. – It’s a pilot’s worst fear. Flying over water when a malfunction causes the helicopter to crash into the water. The crew braces for impact. If that happens, these crews are ready.
Troopers from 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, conducted Helicopter Egress training at the Aviation Survival Training Center, Cherry Point, North Carolina, Oct. 20 and 29.
Before the troopers were able to egress from a simulated helicopter underwater, they were greeted and trained by naval cadre members of the ASTC.
“Our 24 staff members come from a variety of [career fields],” said Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Hayes, director at the ASTC. “We have corpsmen, Navy divers both active duty and retired, and parachute riggers.”
The Army knows parachute riggers as Soldiers who prepare equipment for paratroopers and equipment about to exit aircraft, but the Navy uses them for a different purpose.
“Our parachute riggers maintain the equipment we have on hand,” said Hayes. “We can outfit units with the equipment they would wear while performing aviation operations, from helicopter pilots to fighter jet pilots.”
The cadre members started with some visual aids that puts the training into perspective long before the troopers step foot in the water.
“We were first given a block of instruction on how to complete the training, which included some informative videos showing what could happen if a helicopter crashes and a real-world account of a pilot who survived a crash over water,” said Sgt. Gisela Schilling, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior maintainer, 1-17 CAV, 82nd CAB.
The training aids were only a precursor to what the troopers would soon be facing; blackout goggles, the Multi-place Underwater Emergency Egress Trainer simulator, commonly referred to as dunker, and a recovery raft.
“Once in the water, we swam the pool length twice in our uniform and boots to get used to being in the water,” said Schilling. “It escalated from there.”
There was one event that stood out to most of the troopers as one of the most uncomfortable events of the day.
“At one point, we were rotated 180 degrees underwater and had to clear our mouthpiece out to get a breath of air,” said Schilling. “This is very uncomfortable because you are completely upside-down and water is in your nose.”
The training may be uncomfortable, but it has real-world applications.
“If an aircraft goes into water, we want them to not only know their options, but be able to experience it in a closed environment,” said Hayes. “The [troopers] need to think about what to do but more importantly know how to react in these situations.”
After being submerged upside down and clearing some sinuses, the training moved to an item unfamiliar to the troopers.
“The Modular-Shallow Water Egress Trainer is a Navy/ Marine Corps ASTC piece of equipment that simulates a crash and rollover in water, but requires only two people to manually flip it over,” said Hayes. “We used to take a bucket seat on an aluminum frame and rotate it 180 degrees. We would then instruct them on what door to exit. We went away from that because if just the seat moves, it doesn’t truly replicate a helicopter crash.”
After small-scale training, the troopers mounted the dunker helicopter shell, riding it underwater and reached the surface after removing a window.
“There were times in the dunker where I almost called for help, but I was able to calm down and exit the helicopter,” said Schilling.
While the troopers may have thought that day was over after rolling around in the dunker shell, the cadre members had one trick left up their sleeve, increasing the intensity and real-world feel of the whole experience.
“The raft portion was such a great experience,” said Schilling. “The only light was a spotlight guiding us to the rescue helicopter. There were loud sounds and high-pressure water being sprayed, which simulated rotor wash. It was intense, but a great way to wrap up our training.”
The director of the ASTC conducts this training week in, week out, but he hopes that the units leave with at least one thing: Muscle memory.
“I hope they think back to this training if they are ever in a helicopter crash and remember the training here,” said Hayes. “We strive to provide the most realistic training possible, short of crashing a helicopter.”
Schilling left with a smile and departed the ASTC with one sentence to her fellow troopers.
“Let’s do this again.”
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2015 16:30 |
| Story ID: | 180367 |
| Location: | CHERRY POINT, NC, US |
| Hometown: | CHERRY POINT, NC, US |
| Hometown: | FORT LIBERTY, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 1,042 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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