Remembering API - Back In The Day...

[Renegade One]

But the helo dunker is actually pretty damn good training (that I've not had to use). They've also since "fixed" the SWEAT chair, which usually is what got my heart rate up. Now it's much better training while also not being as big a deal.

Yep…no argument to the first part.

I'm sure I sat in it several times…but what is the "SWEAT Chair"? The one farthest away from the nearest escape avenue? How did they "fix" it?

 

[CommodoreMid]

It's a stand alone chair in the shallow end where they flip you upside down and you're next to a window that can be configured a couple different ways. You ride that a couple times before you go on to the dunker.

Water survival has been the bane of my naval aviation career. After my requal I'm honestly torn between deciding if water survival or SERE sucks more.

 

[Gatordev]

It's a stand alone chair in the shallow end where they flip you upside down and you're next to a window that can be configured a couple different ways. You ride that a couple times before you go on to the dunker.

The SWEAT Chair used to be just a chair that rotated in an open cage. In reality, none of your reference points change because your whole airframe moves with you. In the old SWEAT chair, they would be 180 degrees different than before you "rolled" over, which was very disorienting. Plus it was open, so finding a reference point, let alone actually staying IN the cage was always my issue. Up until they changed it, I never actually "passed" it, but would have some issue at some point, usually resulting in me being OUTSIDE the cage, and the instructors would just tell me to get back in and swim the rest of the way.

It's much more practical now and not nearly the unnecessarily complicated evolution it once was.

My other issue after my last two swim requals (on two different coasts)...the damn CMU not "unzipping" when I pull the handle. I end up spending a lot of energy just trying to figure out if the CMU was rigged incorrectly, which it wasn't...to the point where the dude with the mask and floaties couldn't get it undone and told me to hang onto him until he could get it. I've always wondered the chances of BOTH CO2 bottles not blowing. I'm thinking pretty low.

 

[jmcquate]

According ro Croakerfish, our RW Bros still have a Helo Dunker, as they still occasionally have to ditch. I guess the SH-3A had some sort of emergency floatation setup. Our (RANGER) Sea King "Fetch 53", shown ditched and afloat after engine problem(s), and back onboard after recovery - circa late '60s.

View attachment 12944 View attachment 12945
BzB

I think the SH-3s were designed to be amphibious........at least for a little bit. The underside had boat hull lines.

 

[picklesuit]

My last set of swim qual's was through KNHK. I had the pleasure of doing all the qual's, to include the SEBD, the regular P-3 type stuff, all the ejection seat specific, as well as drags in harnesses with, and without, Koch fittings. I also had six rides in the dunker, three with the bottle and three without. I was the junior guy by a lot, so I had the opportunity to do the Position 1 to Position 7 egress (front left CP to back left window) and that was the most fear I had felt in a while.
I've never been very comfortable in the water, and having to inflate orally always fucks with my head...
Got through it, and I have to say those instructors were pretty awesome, but I still dread sitting on the side of a pool in an ill fitting pair of boots, someone's used flight suit, and a mess of gear that I know won't work...
Pickle

 

[helolumpy]

I think the SH-3s were designed to be amphibious........at least for a little bit. The underside had boat hull lines.

The H-3 pilots did water landings in the FRS.

There is urban legend of two great H-3 water stories.
One is a single engine failure off the coast of Jax. The pilots landed in the water and water taxied it all the way to the beach. They then walk up to the door of Carol Alt's house and ask to use the phone. (I can confirm everything except the Carol Alt portion of the story)

The second was an H-3 that suffered a malfunction on the AUTEC range and landed in the water and shut down. The range boat took the H-3 under tow to get it back to the beach. They boat crew and helo crew hooked up so the helo would be towed stern first like it's towed on the land/deck. The waves started splashing into the cabin causing the H-3 to immediately flood and sink. The range boat was unable to cut the tow lines fast enough and the H-3 took the range boat down with it.
Somewhere on the bottom of the AUTEC range is an H-3 still hooked up to the range boat. (This one is unconfirmed. Lots of my senior folks know this story, but no one seems to know the crew or squadron it happened to)

 

[BigJeffray]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/u...orld-turns-upside-down.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3

This is an article I saw from a little while ago about water survival training. It has a pretty simple rundown with a video in there somewhere to give you an idea for those of you who haven't seen the Sweat Chairs before.