Army pilot training stresses water-survival.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana

In an effort to expand pilots' skills in joint-service operations, the U.S. Army is opening its own water-survival training facilities.

Previously, Army pilots trained on U.S. Navy facilities, but now aircraft ditching skills have become mandatory for each candidate planning to enter the Army's Flight School XXI at Fort Rucker, Ala., according to a service spokesman.

The move is not only a response to the Army aviators' continuously expanding missions, but also an attempt to select the most qualified individuals, before they actually join the flight school, said Lt. Col. Robert Bullinger.

The Army opened its first Dunker Heed Aircraft Underwater Egress training facility in Fort Rucker at the end of last year. The training and equipment at the facility are provided by Survival Systems. Army instructors oversee the program.

The Heed facility consists of an aircraft dunker, where pilots learn how to swim out of sinking aircraft. The main dunker, called the modular egress training system, comes in three configurations. It can simulate an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter, a UH-60 Black Hawk and a CH-47 Chinook. The seating, console, flight control and exits are built to the exact specifications of each aircraft model, according to Survival Systems.

Dunker training is a two-day course, designed to teach 20 students in an eight-hour day. Each day begins with academics in the morning, followed by practical exercises in the dunker tank in the afternoon, said Lt. Col. Jimmy Meacham, commander of the 1st Battalion, 145th Aviation Regiment, which is responsible for student training.

"Exercises get progressively more difficult as the training progresses, but so does the student's confidence," he told National Defense.

Students are given a brief history of over-water accidents, what causes them and how they can be avoided. Before they dunk, pilots learn about the hazards and the physics of compressed air breathing, ditching history, safety and survival equipment, hypothermia mitigation and emergency exits, said Chad Copeland, director of business development at Survival Systems.

Once the students jump in the pool for hands-on training, they first learn basic water maneuvers. Later in the program, they are dropped in the pool while in the simulator. During their exercises, pilots use the Sea MK II auxiliary breathing device. SEA MK II is a small bottle of air, which aircrews use in situations when they cannot hold their breath, according to Karen Roberts...