Survival Training For Pilots

Lt. Cmdr. Kelsey N. Martin successfully freeing himself during training at the Aviation Survival Training Center. The two-day course develops quick responses in escaping from downed aircraft. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Survival Training For When a Pilot’s World Turns Upside Down -- New York Times

NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. — The pilot sat strapped to a chair, held in place as if he were in the backseat of a helicopter. Beside him, on a mock wall, was a window. The window was closed.

The pilot wore opaque goggles. He could not see the window or anything else. The chair was attached to a rotating stand in the chest-deep water of a swimming pool. A petty officer spun a large wheel, flipping the chair backward with a gentle whoosh. The pilot was now underwater, upside down.

Another exercise in the test had begun.

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My Comment: I suspect that as the date approaches for pilots to perform these exercises .... their loathing and dread of it intensifies.