Aviators prepare for emergencies

Fortunately, the ''victim'' was composed of plastic and acrylic paint, but any observer would have agreed the students treated their patient as an actual human being. The learners were pilots and air crewmen, and they si-lently hoped they would never need to use what they learned at the Aviation Survival Training Center (ASTC).

The center's mission is to provide aviation survival training to the Navy. First aid methods comprise only a small part of the information gleaned after training is completed at ASTC. Via lectures and hands-on events, designated and prospective flight crews gain knowledge of the physiological hazards of flight. In the classroom, lessons in physiology, stress and human performance, human sensory and aviation life support systems complement students' skills. Pilots and air crew members must hone and refresh their survival skills every four years.

A student is lowered into the water before a drill.

''This training is definitely useful and important. I've been through it here before and noticed the staff vary the events each time,'' remarked CMDCM(AW/ SW) Jerry Holloman of VP-8 which is homeported in Brunswick, Maine.

Numerous hands-on ex-periences at ASTC reinforce retention of survival skills. To simulate the disorientation of aviation emergencies and trauma in real life, some activities are completed with handicaps in place. On the pool deck, for instance, the helo dunker is a device used to mimic a helicopter crash at sea. Strapped inside the dunker as it sinks below the wa-terline, blindfolded students must escape us-ing only their sense of touch af-ter the dunker rolls up-side down underwater.

In ano-ther scenario, blindfolded students step off a platform high above the pool, attached to parachute harnesses, practicing an escape from disentanglement. No matter what exercise they engage in, hours are spent perfecting the thinking and techniques that will aid them in an incident taking only seconds to evolve. To survive, it is imperative that they act on what they've learned not only quickly but accurately.

''I've been out of the pilot's seat for a little while, and training here at ASTC has been a good refresher for me. It's crucial to be reminded of what can go wrong in the cockpit,'' said Lt. Jeff Winslow, a student.

Just before plunging below the surface of the water, a student inside the helo dunker fills his lungs with air. The dunker trains pilots and aircrewmen to grasp reference points when their other senses are degraded after crash-landing into the ocean.

Learners even experience how their bodies react when things do go wrong in an aircraft, especially when their bodies don't receive enough oxygen.

Inside the low pressure altitude chamber, which resembles the inside of a plane, the oxygen supply is reduced over a 15 minute period. Side effects include dizziness, light-headedness, increased heartbeat and difficulty concentrating. Students are handed clipboards with simple questions to answer and problems to solve. In a low oxygen state known as hypoxia, simple arithmetic becomes nearly impossible to complete. Colors charts posted to the walls blend into one blurry smudge. Each student wears headphones and a mike and gives instant feedback to instructors about their symptoms.

Inside a room on ASTC's second deck, a large screen with a pilot's seat and a joystick in front of it might be mistaken for a very expensive video game. But students quickly learn it is a flight simulator with real side effects.

While a pilot uses a flight simulator, the Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device (ROBD) controls air flow to the user, who wears an oxygen mask and helmet as if inside the cockpit of a modern jet fighter. Staff members control oxygen and nitrogen levels to the pilot's mask. They can mimic the result of a flight incident that drastically changes the air supply.

Students practice a variety of swimming strokes prior to "Night Storm."

''I've used the simulator myself,'' said HM1(FMF) William Gaines, an ASTC staff member. ''The air tanks you see near the ROBD contain nitrogen and oxygen. During the simulation, much more nitrogen is fed to the pilot than oxygen. The effects are dramatic. When I was using it and fed less oxygen, I started to get tunnel vision while trying to use the simulator. My field of vision shrank right before my eyes.'' After feeling the effects of reduced oxygen, the students receive a normal oxygen supply again.

Once in a while, the ASTC receives feedback from students. One was the survivor of an incident.

''In 2003, the pilot of an S-3 escaped a crash. Before it happened, he went through the training here. He told us how vitally important our training was for him that day. Incidents like that happen so quickly,'' Gaines said.

''Only a fraction of a second after a pilot pulls the lever for the ejection seat, he is expelled out of his plane and into the environment. He must be ready to react to that new environment. Even though pilots and air crewmen are required to refresh their survival training only every four years, NAS Jax commands are invited to send aviation personnel to use ASTC's facilities,'' Gaines concluded.