Some cool stuff

So the past week has had us doing some pretty cool stuff. We had the chance to anthron (kind of like rappelling) from helicopters, hoist from and to helicopters from moving boats, and to fly and drop stuff from the CC-115 Buffalo. All in all pretty damn cool. Here it is in video.

Sea Survival

Being from the navy I didn't think too much about doing another sea survival course but I must say the air force course is much better than the naval sea survival. For us it was focused on hitting the water under canopy. Assuming your parachute was dragging you through the water you had to be able to successfully get out of your harness which isn't as easy as it sounds. They simulated this by suspending you 10 feet off the back of a boat, dropping you without warning into the ocean and dragging you at 5-6 knots through the water. You then have to stabilize yourself in the water and get out of your harness. Once that's done you have to inflate your one-man life raft and carry out your survival pattern.

The multi-man portion was good also. They took us out into the ocean, piled us all below deck and 8 at a time we would hurry topside and jump off the boat as if it was sinking. Each group had a ten man life raft. We had to get everyone inside and again do the survival pattern. Inflate the 'ceiling' of the raft, bail out the water, check for leaks, start making fresh water, etc. Staff simulates a storm by speeding by you and swamping your raft with waves. Pretty boring stuff actually. Some guys were starting to get a little ill at the end of it (myself included). Out of all the survival training I've done so far, this is the one I would like to do the least in a real situation.

Helo Egress

So HUET (helicopter underwater egress training) took place in Dartmouth Nova Scotia concurrently with OTVSE. Half the course would go to HUET and the other half stayed to do OTV. The HUET trainer was not only a good time but also a very good training experience. The idea behind it is that when a helo hits the water there's a decent chance of it rolling over due to the weight of the engines and transmission which are located on the top of the aircraft. This training is intended for you to be able to deal with the situation, locate your emergency breathing system (EBS), disconnect from your hard point and escape before the a/c sinks. There are many accountings of helo's crashing in the water, both miitary and civilian, with survivors and non-survivors in both (including SAR Techs). Out of the reports I've read on these accidents almost 100% of the survivors credit this training with them still being alive. It made me realize how serious this can potentially be when I know that SAR Techs have died in this type of incident despite being HUET trained.

OTVSE