Just finished swim/phys refresher yesterday, and for the first time got to use the Airsave vest with the low-profile flotation collar (LPU-36). We've flown with the gear for over a year now, but this was the first time I was in the water with it. I used to think the SV-2, while not the greatest from a comfort stnadpoint, provided a first-rate flotation system. The LPU-36, while it may be "lower profile" and more comfortable, is truly a piece of crap. My gripes:
1) When hanging in the chute (in the cool virtual reality parachute demonstrator), once you inflate your LPU you can forget about ever looking down again. Want to pick a landing site? No way - the lobes completely block your view, and can't be wrestled apart. Need to judge your height? No chance. The only positive is that you're forced to look at the horizon at impact. Hopefully you won't have drifted into power lines or cactus patches in the meantime. This might also tempt you into holding off on the first step of the whole IROK flow until you get yourself better situated, which might lead to you forgetting it altogether.
2) Better have your visor down! You would, of course, have it down anyway (as per NATOPS), but for added incentive you now have the threat of the CO2 cartridges and inflation tubes, which after you have pulled the beaded handles are *perfectly* (and I do mean perfectly) positioned to each take out your eyeballs on impact. This is a no-sh1tter, too - for the life of me I can't figure out how a design like that gets past the human factors people. When you're trying to swim with the vest inflated, they're also a threat. I got a nice poke in the eye with the oral inflation tube while attempting to swim to my helo hoist pickup.
3) No waist floatation: I really liked having the SV-2 waist lobes and the way they held you up in the water, as well as did a good job of contributing to flipping you onto your back if you were face down and unconscious. Gone.
4) Finicky beaded handles: When you do pull the handles, you better pull them exactly as the designer intended (straight out and down), or they might fail. You might think this would be a pretty easy design to come up wth, but 1 out of the 4 in our little group failed to actuate because of the way the handles were pulled. The instructors made a point about pulling the handles properly - not something I'm sure I'll remember in the heat of the moment.
5) Not even doing that good a job of keeping me floating: Granted, this was "pool" gear and not custom-fitted, but I did have a PR spend a couple of minutes getting the LPU collar adjusted. Still felt like I was riding *way* low in the water, even with it fully inflated. Seemed like it was closing in around my head and neck, when it should have been lifting my head and neck out of the water. The only time I sucked in a lot of water was when I was floating waiting to get hoisted and not actively treading water - in rough (for a pool!) water, I was way too low.
Although I left the training with more confidence in my personal skills and training, I have much less confidence in my LPU. You would think that would be one piece of gear the Navy would be abe to get right, but I am sorely disappointed. Anyone else have a similar experience, or did I just have a bad day in the pool?
(On a side note, the Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device (ROBD) for demonstrating hypoxia is a huge advance over the low pressure chamber. You fly a simulator while wearing a mask and a pulse-ox monitor, and the operator gradually reduces the O2 percentage until you either pull the little green ring or your pulse-ox hits ~60%. It is much better at representing the "mask on" OBOGS failures that the Hornet guys apparently have issues with, and lets you see hypoxia symptoms that might crop up in a much more realistic environment - i.e., flying and communicating. Turns out my superhuman power is apparently a resistance to hypoxia - I was still fully coherent and without obvious symptoms down to 65% pulse-ox; I may go take up high-altitude mountaineering....
)
1) When hanging in the chute (in the cool virtual reality parachute demonstrator), once you inflate your LPU you can forget about ever looking down again. Want to pick a landing site? No way - the lobes completely block your view, and can't be wrestled apart. Need to judge your height? No chance. The only positive is that you're forced to look at the horizon at impact. Hopefully you won't have drifted into power lines or cactus patches in the meantime. This might also tempt you into holding off on the first step of the whole IROK flow until you get yourself better situated, which might lead to you forgetting it altogether.
2) Better have your visor down! You would, of course, have it down anyway (as per NATOPS), but for added incentive you now have the threat of the CO2 cartridges and inflation tubes, which after you have pulled the beaded handles are *perfectly* (and I do mean perfectly) positioned to each take out your eyeballs on impact. This is a no-sh1tter, too - for the life of me I can't figure out how a design like that gets past the human factors people. When you're trying to swim with the vest inflated, they're also a threat. I got a nice poke in the eye with the oral inflation tube while attempting to swim to my helo hoist pickup.
3) No waist floatation: I really liked having the SV-2 waist lobes and the way they held you up in the water, as well as did a good job of contributing to flipping you onto your back if you were face down and unconscious. Gone.
4) Finicky beaded handles: When you do pull the handles, you better pull them exactly as the designer intended (straight out and down), or they might fail. You might think this would be a pretty easy design to come up wth, but 1 out of the 4 in our little group failed to actuate because of the way the handles were pulled. The instructors made a point about pulling the handles properly - not something I'm sure I'll remember in the heat of the moment.
5) Not even doing that good a job of keeping me floating: Granted, this was "pool" gear and not custom-fitted, but I did have a PR spend a couple of minutes getting the LPU collar adjusted. Still felt like I was riding *way* low in the water, even with it fully inflated. Seemed like it was closing in around my head and neck, when it should have been lifting my head and neck out of the water. The only time I sucked in a lot of water was when I was floating waiting to get hoisted and not actively treading water - in rough (for a pool!) water, I was way too low.
Although I left the training with more confidence in my personal skills and training, I have much less confidence in my LPU. You would think that would be one piece of gear the Navy would be abe to get right, but I am sorely disappointed. Anyone else have a similar experience, or did I just have a bad day in the pool?
(On a side note, the Reduced Oxygen Breathing Device (ROBD) for demonstrating hypoxia is a huge advance over the low pressure chamber. You fly a simulator while wearing a mask and a pulse-ox monitor, and the operator gradually reduces the O2 percentage until you either pull the little green ring or your pulse-ox hits ~60%. It is much better at representing the "mask on" OBOGS failures that the Hornet guys apparently have issues with, and lets you see hypoxia symptoms that might crop up in a much more realistic environment - i.e., flying and communicating. Turns out my superhuman power is apparently a resistance to hypoxia - I was still fully coherent and without obvious symptoms down to 65% pulse-ox; I may go take up high-altitude mountaineering....
)
