To Fall Into The Water And Survive

The Mi–17 helicopter creeps in at an altitude of a mere twenty
meters, just "centimeters" above the treetops over the still surface of
the Holt (Dead)-Tisza near Szolnok. Leaves and small twigs are
scattering in every direction from the trees and the wind of the rotor
sprinkles water vapour into our faces. The aircraft stands still, then
it lets down a hook-like object on a thin cable onto the water. Down
there two divers are pushing an orange rubber boat under the aircraft,
carrying a man dressed in flying uniform, then with a careful move,
they fasten the strap of the "hook" around his waist. A second later, a
diver and the pilot are hanging in the air and in a few more seconds
they reach the helicopter that is still hovering without making a move.

– What you can see now is the closure of a five-day training, or
in other words, it is the closing exercise – says Lieutenant Colonel
Tamás Bali, Senior Officer of the Aviation Preparation Department of
the HDF Joint Forces Command. Four years ago, in 2005 in Turkey, the
lieutenant colonel underwent a four-week training for instructors of
water survival so at the moment he leads the water survival training
prescribed for the flying personnel of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
The first course of this kind was organized in the summer of 2006 by
the Hungarian Defence Forces. Back then the fighter pilots of the HDF
59th Dezsõ Szentgyörgyi Aviation Base of Kecskemét were preparing for a
NATO exercise in Sweden and they had to master what is called cold
water survival.

Following the successful course, a decision was made that every
soldier of the flying personnel must complete a water survival
training. For various reasons, the training of the troops could not
start in 2007, so last year a part of the HDF 86th Szolnok Helicopter
Base personnel were sent on the training. And this year the training
was conducted for those who did not get admission to the previous
course.

– We can train a maximum of twenty-five pilots a year – says Lt.Col.
Bali, who, after his training in Turkey, compiled the topics of the
Hungarian training all by himself. The first day of the one-week course
is for theoretical perparation, in the morning of the second day the
participants learn about personal rescue equipments. This is important
because pilots must know well how a parachute, an inflatable rescue
boat, or a life vest works. In the afternoon, the students are already
in the training pool of the Szolnok barracks.

The first and most important aim of the training is gain
competence in water and for the sake of that the instructors try to
commit every “evil deed" against the flying personnel. For example they
have to tread in the water for several minutes, standing closely side
by side, while they are sprinkled with vapour from the bank of the
river – all to make them get used to the conditions caused by the wind
of the rotor. The next phase is about learning how to cooperate with
divers. This is useful when the pilot who got in trouble is found by
the search/rescue team that tries to salvage him from the water.

Another very important part of the training is practicing how to arrive
into the water – we are told by Lt.Col. Tamás Bali, who also tells us
that the soldiers have to jump into the training pool from three and
five meter high towers. In the beginning all they have to learn is the
correct posture when arriving into the water. But by the end of the
training block they have to jump from five meters while wearing a hood
– that is to simulate visibility at night. The reason why this height
has a key role is that the pilot jumping out of a damaged aircraft
reaches the water with his parachute at nearly the same speed as
someone jumping down from five meters.

By the way, parachute. Psychically the most difficult part of the
water survival training is when they practice how to dispose of the
parachute after landing in the water. Lt.Col. Bali tells us that people
feel really uncomfortable when in the training pool the dome of the
parachute is let down onto them and they have to free themselves and
come up to the surface as fast as they can. Many get entangled by the
ropes and even the straps. But one way or the other, everyone must
learn the perfect technique, for it may happen that his or her life
will depend on it…

– Those who are still not confident enough in the water by the end of
first training phase will usually give up in the parachute phase. For a
soldier it is very difficult to process that he feels his lungs running
out of oxygen while he is sinking down towards the bottom of the pool,
tangled up in ropes and straps. Fortunately, we conduct the whole
training, not just this phase, with the assistance of divers, so the
frogmen can help the troops who get in trouble – says Lt.Col. Bali.

Practicing the use of the rescue equipments is also a very
important part of the course. In this phase, the flying personnel learn
how to get into a life boat, how to inflate and maintain it, just like
they learn how to manoeuvre the boat and use the life vest and the life
belt in the right way. This is followed by mastering the correct use of
the "pickaxe". Pickaxe is the name of the hook-shaped device that is
assembled to the external winch of the helicopters, with the help of
which rescue divers can lift the pilot who got in trouble.

The training pool-phase of the course ends in the afternoon of the
fourth day. By that time the participants have usually "used up their
energy" – says the young senior officer, adding: but the real test is
yet to come. On the last day, in the framework of a closing exercise
the participants of the course have to demonstrate what they have
learned during the week, and what is more, "to make it more
sportsmanlike and difficult", they have to do this in living water, in
the Holt-Tisza branch at Szolnok. The closing exercise begins with the
personnel wearing flying uniforms and life vests jumping from a
helicopter that flies low and slowly above the water. Afterwards the
rotary wing aircraft leaves the swimming soldiers "alone" for a few
minutes, then the troops get into a lifeboat and wait to be rescued.
With the help of the divers, the board technician of the reappearing
helicopter lifts the pilots who "got in trouble" onto the board, one by
one.

– The closing exercise in open water is a good opportunity to
practice, not only for the participants of the course but also the
helicopter crew, for they can practice the technique of winching.
Similarly, the members of the search/rescue team can practice the
phases of rescue – Lt.Col. Bali says. The leader of the training also
tells us that the water survival preparation of the flying personnel
serving at the Szolnok Helicopter Base will end this summer. Next year
the flying personnel of the Kecskemét Aviation Base will visit them for
a one-week course. As of 2011, they will focus on refreshing what they
will have learnt by then.

Of course, in addition to water survival
drills, there are also regular activities that summarize land survival
skills. For an emergency landing may happen not only above water but
over the ground as well…

In the meantime the Mi–17 appears again above the dead branch of
the Tisza river. With its cargo doors taken off, it flies at a mere
five meters above the water. In an instant, six soldiers in flying
uniforms and yellow life vests are jumping out of the aircraft. The
Mi–17 flies away, but just to return in a short while. For the troops
who "got in trouble" have to be rescued from the water…