Helo Dunker

[BigIron]

One of my numerous complaints w/ that thing. It's bad, unrealistic training. Your reference points change when they flip you. I also always end up outside the thing when I'm blindfolded (unlike an aircraft).

Did I mention I hate the thing?

concur. Hate it.

 

[Ken_gone_flying]

What I hate more, is the making you put your feet on the edge of the pool and lean back. No way to keep the water out of your nose.

Agreed. I hate that evolution the most too.

 

[scoolbubba]

Annoying. The new style dunkers are pretty damn awful. I did fine till the blindfolded evolution, and made it out the "proper" exit by luck alone. That never made any sense to me..."proper" exits.

Seemed like if it was the real deal, and you found an exit, it's the right one to go through.

 

[rare21]

I hated that thing especially already being wary and hating water. I think one of the Italian students took one look at it and took off. I heard he passed some of his swimming evolutions by paying some of the swim instructors to sign him off. Of course this was just a rumor I heard. I felt bad for the guy who's seatbelt got stuck and they had to bring the dunker back up to get him out. When he resurfaced in the seat he looked like he was going to pass out.

 

[PropStop]

May I introduce you to the SWET chair. Google link: http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2660053210042095642mBXQOU

I hate that thing.

After spending two months working at the survival pool the (the OLD one), i had more rides in that thing than I can count. No doubt, I hated it at first, but i got used to it. So when I went through for API (and subsequent trips to swim phys) it no longer bothered me.

I think that kind of desensitization is a good thing. People ought to ride that thing until they think it's no big deal - one less thing to think about as your helo is rolling upside down and going under. A week of doing that would be miserable, but it'd pay off that one time you really need it.

 

[MasterBates]

No, going for a week would be just stupid.

 

[PropStop]

No, going for a week would be just stupid.

Nono, you'd eventually learn to enjoy it. Look forward to it even.

 

[exhelodrvr]

After spending two months working at the survival pool the (the OLD one), i had more rides in that thing than I can count. No doubt, I hated it at first, but i got used to it. So when I went through for API (and subsequent trips to swim phys) it no longer bothered me.

I think that kind of desensitization is a good thing. People ought to ride that thing until they think it's no big deal - one less thing to think about as your helo is rolling upside down and going under. A week of doing that would be miserable, but it'd pay off that one time you really need it.

Luckily, I never "needed it", but talking to people who did said that it was good training. They didn't all wait for the "rollover to stop", though.

 

[bunk22]

When I get back from Iraq, I have to do water survival one last time in my career. Nothing about it really ever bothered me but I'll almost be 40, so I'm not exactly young pup any more

 

[CommodoreMid]

Luckily, I never "needed it", but talking to people who did said that it was good training. They didn't all wait for the "rollover to stop", though.

I am one of those unfortunate people who needed the extra week. When I was 13 I had a bad experience underwater so anything that makes me stay underwater makes me quite unhappy. My first ride in the dunker did not bode me well as my seatbelt got completely stuck (the diver couldn't even twist the release) so he had to fumble with the emergency release mechanism and drag me out, seat belt and all. I ended up having to come back for the week of remediation but I'm glad I did it and I give a lot of credit to the pool guys. The couldn't actually have me and the other guy who didn't pass ride the dunker since apparently they need at least 8 people to operate it safely, so they put it in the water upside down and had us hold ourselves in the seats and practice it that way. They even had us do weird shit like blindfold us and crawl around pretending our primary and secondary exits in the back were blocked so we had to find our way out through the cockpit. In the end, good training.

Oh and they changed the SWET chair too. I never did the old style, but the cage is no longer there. The chair is just one single unit and the door is right next to you. Much easier from what I hear.

 

[mmx1]

when will congress label that as torture?

+1

 

[SteveG75]

Did the helo dunker exactly once in 18 years, during AOCS.

Whidbey never got one before I left in 2004 and all we had to do was one run (blindfolded) in the old Dilbert Dunker. Another reason to go Prowlers.

 

[bert]

With all the dunker hate going on, I'll put a plug in for the (relatively) new hypoxia trainer I went through getting my T-6 qual: that was hands down the best physiology training "bang for the buck" I've ever come across.

 

[Pags]

I felt bad for the guy who's seatbelt got stuck and they had to bring the dunker back up to get him out.

happened to me during my last requal. awful. it also happened to be the same ride where I managed to fling my HABD across the "cockpit". resulted in a nice shoulder tweak. the new dunker was good training, by which I mean I hate it.

some folks were tossing around the idea of doing it in body armor. no thanks.

i always thought it'd be interesting to fill the dunker with chocks, intake plugs, rafts, SAR bags, helmet bags, pub bags, and NVD cases and see what would happen. i think the results would be good reinforcement for why everything needs to be tied down.

a DH in my squadron was in the notorious H-3 crash that everyone's seen on YouTube. He's a pretty jacked guy and he somehow managed to cram himself out of the H-3's sliding window. The crew chief on the flight was a known stickler for ensuring that all the mail/cargo was tightly packed and secure "just in case". when they pulled the wreckage up, all his hard work wasn't for nothing. all the mail was still in place and they delivered what they could.

 

[Gatordev]

Oh and they changed the SWET chair too. I never did the old style, but the cage is no longer there. The chair is just one single unit and the door is right next to you. Much easier from what I hear.

The helo version is a little different. They put two of them together and flip each person at the same time. You cross paths underwater (or in my case, somewhere outside the cage) and then do the door thing.

I think that kind of desensitization is a good thing. People ought to ride that thing until they think it's no big deal - one less thing to think about as your helo is rolling upside down and going under.

But that's the thing, it isn't anything like when your helo rolls upside down. Okay, it isn't anything like what I imagine it to be when it rolls over. Half of my problem in the SWET is trying to figure out which hand I'm supposed to use to know where to grab the reference point because the reference point moves. That doesn't happen in the helo. You may move due to seat stroke and such, but the door is still on the same side it was before you rolled and the handhold up top is still up top.

I think the dunker is a great tool; the SWET, not so much.