Yesterday I got to take a “Sea Survival and Helicopter Egress” course down in Galveston. Training for traveling to an offshore oil platform or boat. It was way cool! And hard, too.
They flip you upside down (blindfolded) in a mockup of a helicopter into the water (pool.) You have to exit through the window. First on one side, then again across the seat to the other side. I was slow on my “across” and had to do that one again. It’s very disorienting!
You also have to don a life jacket, form a group huddle, and also swim in a line by hooking your feet under the armpits of your neighbor, and then everybody swims in synch. You also have to get into a life raft (with help from your fellows) and then also right a turned-over life raft.
The third task was to don an immersion suit (that was WAY too big for me!) on the side of the pool and then jump into the pool. Your feet float because of all the air in the legs! You have to let out the bubbles. Then form a group like in the other task, and also swim in a line. Then you help your buddy take off his suit, and watch him put it back on in the water. And he does the same for you. Much easier to put it on in the water (because it floats) unless you can’t swim! We were only in 4 feet of water for that, though.
It was a great day for this chubby old (47) broad! I’m sore today, but very proud of myself!
I’m a mechanical designer of subsea oil production equipment. It could happen that they might need me to go offshore one of these days. Probably not likely - they usually just send engineers. I volunteered just so I could go observe them installing one of my “Christmas trees” - a system of valves.
Every five years I have to go through the helo dunker (except we do it a couple times like you did, then a couple times blindfolded), and other water survival techniques, including treading water for a spell while wearing our flight suit, boots, and survival vest. Not too easy, but doable. I’ve learned to handle the helo dunker, but boy do I hate that thing with a passion (put 4 or 5 guys in that dunker, all blind as bats, and trying to go out through one exit–not fun). I’m glad you find it cool!
Ah yes, the good old Dilbert Dunker. Standard water immersion training device for many years. I used to know why it was called “Dilbert Dunker” – I think it’s named after it’s designer. This was way before Scott Adams, of course.
As a flight simulator technician, this was a device I had to repair. And, of course, to repair it, one had to know first-hand how it worked.
Not very fun. Not very fun, at all.
On review, I find that the good old Dilbert Dunker has been retired in favor of a newer version.