Andrew Yee[_1_]
June 13th 08, 02:40 AM
Alan Brown / Jay Levine
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. May 16, 2008
(661) 276-2665 / 3459
RELEASE: Photo / Video 08-20P
NASA Dryden, Air Force Flight Crews Undergo Survival Training
When flight crews have to bail out or eject from a crippled aircraft, they
need to know how to survive once they hit the ground or water.
To ensure they are up to date on their survival skills, personnel on flight
status at Edwards Air Force Base and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center
recently teamed up for refresher training in land and water survival to
prepare them to survive an ejection or bailout over the ocean or a remote
area on land.
After academic instruction in the morning, personnel spent the afternoon
practicing what they were learning in the Oasis Aquatic Center pool or out
in the desert during the two-day training. Under controlled conditions, the
flight crews were placed in situations similar to what they might encounter
in an actual emergency.
Staff Sgt. Brandon Smith, a survival, evasion, resistance and escape
instructor at Edwards, covered aspects such as parachuting into water,
parachute water drags, parachute canopy entanglement problems, life raft
boarding and survival procedures, use of water survival equipment, rescue
techniques, helicopter pickups, medical and psychological aspects of sea and
land survival, sustenance and hazardous marine life. On the second day,
trainees learned proper techniques for lighting day and night flares and use
of signaling mirrors.
NASA Dryden life support chief Bobby McElwain said pilots undergo full
training at a survival school early in their careers, have annual
discussions about survival and are required to undergo refresher training
drills related to desert and water survival every five years. Although
Edwards is located in the desert, missions flown over the Pacific Ocean are
commonplace.
"[Pilots] are so accustomed to the desert environment that they're not
thinking about water," McElwain remarked. "We have to drill it into their
heads all the time when they come through for life support training: Don't
forget you can find yourself in a water survival situation."
NASA Dryden research pilot Dick Ewers understands the value of these drills
after hearing first-hand from pilots he's known who have had to eject from
stricken aircraft and who said they might not have survived without the
training.
"Luckily, we were doing this in a calm, warm swimming pool, and for only an
hour outside in the desert and on a cool day," Ewers noted. "Imagine trying
to find and climb into a raft at night in the open ocean where the water is
less than 60 degrees and you're really cold, or trying to get your act
together after parachuting down in the desert when it's over 100 degrees and
you broke your arm in the ejection.
"Knowing what to do and that you can do it will make the difference."
For more information about NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and its
research projects, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden
PHOTO / VIDEO EDITORS: High-resolution photos and video segments to support
this release are available electronically on the web at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html
Video dubs are also available by contacting NASA Dryden public affairs at
the number above.
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. May 16, 2008
(661) 276-2665 / 3459
RELEASE: Photo / Video 08-20P
NASA Dryden, Air Force Flight Crews Undergo Survival Training
When flight crews have to bail out or eject from a crippled aircraft, they
need to know how to survive once they hit the ground or water.
To ensure they are up to date on their survival skills, personnel on flight
status at Edwards Air Force Base and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center
recently teamed up for refresher training in land and water survival to
prepare them to survive an ejection or bailout over the ocean or a remote
area on land.
After academic instruction in the morning, personnel spent the afternoon
practicing what they were learning in the Oasis Aquatic Center pool or out
in the desert during the two-day training. Under controlled conditions, the
flight crews were placed in situations similar to what they might encounter
in an actual emergency.
Staff Sgt. Brandon Smith, a survival, evasion, resistance and escape
instructor at Edwards, covered aspects such as parachuting into water,
parachute water drags, parachute canopy entanglement problems, life raft
boarding and survival procedures, use of water survival equipment, rescue
techniques, helicopter pickups, medical and psychological aspects of sea and
land survival, sustenance and hazardous marine life. On the second day,
trainees learned proper techniques for lighting day and night flares and use
of signaling mirrors.
NASA Dryden life support chief Bobby McElwain said pilots undergo full
training at a survival school early in their careers, have annual
discussions about survival and are required to undergo refresher training
drills related to desert and water survival every five years. Although
Edwards is located in the desert, missions flown over the Pacific Ocean are
commonplace.
"[Pilots] are so accustomed to the desert environment that they're not
thinking about water," McElwain remarked. "We have to drill it into their
heads all the time when they come through for life support training: Don't
forget you can find yourself in a water survival situation."
NASA Dryden research pilot Dick Ewers understands the value of these drills
after hearing first-hand from pilots he's known who have had to eject from
stricken aircraft and who said they might not have survived without the
training.
"Luckily, we were doing this in a calm, warm swimming pool, and for only an
hour outside in the desert and on a cool day," Ewers noted. "Imagine trying
to find and climb into a raft at night in the open ocean where the water is
less than 60 degrees and you're really cold, or trying to get your act
together after parachuting down in the desert when it's over 100 degrees and
you broke your arm in the ejection.
"Knowing what to do and that you can do it will make the difference."
For more information about NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and its
research projects, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden
PHOTO / VIDEO EDITORS: High-resolution photos and video segments to support
this release are available electronically on the web at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html
Video dubs are also available by contacting NASA Dryden public affairs at
the number above.