Kimber's Helicopter and Survival Training

The much anticipated safety, helicopter, and survival training for Kimber has come and gone. The class was four days total. The first day was mostly regulations, procedures, and first aid instruction. So not much really to write about although they did a nice job teaching basic first aid. I was surprised at how few people in the class had no first aid training prior to the class. Over half the class had no first aid training. The other area covered during this day was proper selection of personal protective equipment like gloves, fall arrest gear, helmets, etc.

Day two was mostly about fire. Although I have been through several fire extinguisher training classes and even to fire school, I learned several new things in this class and had several important elements reinforced. We went through a very thorough exercise of discussing flash points, explosive limits and auto ignition temperatures. We also discussed the fire triangle and how various extinguishing media worked. After that was an exercise to choose the best extinguisher for various types of fire. Also was first aid practice as well as live fire extinguisher training. One item that was discussed was how to extinguish a person. Contrary to what you see in the movies, you don't beat them with a blanket of fabric, you gently lay the fabric over the person protecting their face and then gently rub out the flame. Although a frightening subject, a good one to cover properly. In addition, the exercise was a good example of the fire retardant clothing. The "dummy" was wearing fire resistant clothing and had been lit with ethanol many times but the clothing had minimal burn marks. Finally, we practiced first aid and used CO2, foam, and dry chemical extinguishers to put out fires. Overall the class was very well done. The only complaint is that we had to wear wool long underwear, then fire resistant overalls, wool socks, boots, fire resistant hood, hard hat, glasses and then fire resistant rain gear. Three rather heavy and hot layers. Now you might say it isn't warm in Norway, no big deal. Except it was 80 and we didn't even get wet. So I am not exactly sure what all the layers were about.


Day three is when the real fun began. This was introduction to the survival suit and the helicopter Houdini routine. First the suit. It comes in 6 sizes from extra small to extra large. The sizes run large so several of my closer to average size class mates wore extra small. So as you may imagine, extra small was a bit big for me. Maybe a foot too long and the boots were a size 38. I wear a 35 on a large foot day. So I couldn't keep the shoes on.


The suit is really quite novel other than the size issues. It is supposed to keep you warm in freezing water for 6 hours, keep you afloat, has a secondary life vest built in which I will talk more about in a second, has cuffs that seal around your hands and gloves that can go over those. It also has a spray shield that is clear and protects your face. It has a buddy line and location beacon as well as light. There is strap on the back that you can get dragged by. It seals (at least mostly) around your face. The only problem with these suits is that they have been worn hundreds of times so the seals don't work and we were all soaked. The suits issued when you actually fly should keep water out a little better. But even soaking wet with my boots full of water, I was quite buoyant.

So another feature of the suit is a rebreathing system. The concept may seem a bit odd when I describe it but it worked well for me. The idea is that you can rebreath your own air for up to a minute. You only use a small percent of the oxygen in the air you breathe (that is why CPR works in case you never thought about it). To fly, you are already wearing the suit but the hood isn't on or zipped. Then after you have ditched and you are going under water, you establish your rebreather. You put on a nose clip and then put the rebreather mouth piece in (like a snorkel or dive mask). Then you breath normally but your hand is on a valve that controls the rebreather. Right before you go under, you take a deep breath and close the valve. The mouth piece is connected to a plastic bag that you exhale into. After that you "breath normally" while making your Houdini escape from the ditched turning upside down helicopter in the cold North Sea. The rebreather should work for at least a minute. Now in theory you should be able to hold your breath for a while but it is nice to breath normally while everything else in your day is disintegrating. I also tried the hold your breath method once and will talk more about that in a minute also. After you surface and don't need the rebreather any more, you inflate the bag for extra flotation.

So the first exercise was to get in the pool and activate the rebreather. First I had problems getting in the pool. Couldn't sink. Too buoyant. Then once I could get about the correct level, couldn't touch the bottom. For all of you who are now falling out of your chair laughing, keep reading, it gets better. After you activate the rebreather, you have to put your face under water using the rebreather for about 20 seconds. Then you repeat upside down (standing on your head in the water), and finally you use it while pulling yourself across the pool along a rope. For the upside down part, I had to be held by my feet and held under water. Too buoyant. Also, after the first exercise I forgot to spit out the rebreather and just kept breathing. Eventually my fingers started to tingle and I got dizzy. Then I realized my problem and spat it out to breath normally. Lesson learned.

Next came 6 helicopter escapes. First time right side up with the rebreather and putting the windows out before you went under water. No problems really except I could barely reach the window, couldn't reach the front of the seat where you are supposed to hang on, and my feet don't touch the floor. Quit laughing. And too buoyant. As soon as I undo my seat belt I go straight up. The idea is that you are part way out the window before you undo the seat belt. That of course assumes you have no problems reaching the window, can hold onto the seat and you can use your legs. Then my boots got stuck under the seat because I wrapped my legs under since they didn't reach the floor. Oh well. I got out and it is good to know these things before you actually need them. Oh and all of this is happening with your eyes closed until you surface.

Second exercise is escape right side up but put the windows out after you are under water. The next two exercises are doing the first two over but you turn upside down once after putting the windows out and once before putting the windows out. You have to wait until you are completely upside down to put out the window and undo the seat belt. Boy it is hard to wait. I had trouble due to size and buoyancy on all the rounds but I did get better. They do a nice job of making it feel safe as each person has a diver right beside them monitoring the situation. Everyone pops up in less than 10 seconds.

The last two exercises of the day were without the rebreather. You hold your breath. The first right side up was OK. The upside down without the rebreather was awful. If you have ever snorkeled and dove down to get a closer look at something below you, you know the pressure. But there is no mask to protect your nose and no nose clip. I also have never mastered breathing out through my nose ever so slowly so as soon as we turned over and were 15 feet or so under water, my head was full of water and so painful I wished it would explode. Lets just say if we had done that first, I may have quit.


But mission accomplished on day three. On to day four. This day was spent in the suit but the first half of the day on land. Again very hot. We practiced donning the suit, helping each other out to get the gloves and hood on, and mustering life boats. There are numerous types of life boats with various mustering procedures. So it was good practice but it was very warm. The other exercise of the morning, and the one I am best suited for was going down the escape chute. You enter the suit and do a bit of a hula hoop dance to slide down. There are rings, each a meter apart with Kevlar mesh outside and running diagonally inside. Since I am little, it is rather easy for me to fit between the Kevlar and rings. The bigger guys actually have to work at it.


The afternoon was spent in the sea. We had to get in and out of a life raft, rescue someone, swim together past a large fan, and jump in from 2 meters. Finally, we had to climb up onto a capsized life raft and flip it over. The only problem with this is getting on the silly thing in the first place once you are soaked and tired. Then once you are on you stand up and lean back flipping the raft onto your head, then swim out from underneath.

All in all, the class was tough and I am glad I don't have to go back for 4 years. In some ways it was less fun than I thought it would be but in others it was a unique challenge and I am glad I completed it.