One thing you realize when you begin egress training: there’s a lot of medical
information involved, born of the interrelated physics of air pressure and water pressure and your body’s responses to each. And frankly, it’s all bad news. How’s your knowledge of arterial gas embolisms? T ey’re the result of air in
your lungs bursting out of tiny alveoli, where that air normally exchanges its oxygen for carbon dioxide. (Blame the ruptures on the interrelated physics.) If the alveoli are ruptured during your time escaping an underwater emergency, bubbles of air can enter your bloodstream and move on to block blood fl ow in the brain or lungs. Neither result is good and, by the way, the two can occur simultaneously. Ever heard of pneumothorax? T at’s when those bubbles escape into the
space around the outside of the lungs. Air that collects inside your chest but outside your lungs can form large bubbles that compress the lungs and, thus, reduce the volume of air they can contain. Mediastinal emphysema is a pocket of air, again from ruptured alveoli, that forms adjacent to the heart, reducing its ability to pump. At this point, you’ll have covered four medical conditions related to underwater
egress that can range from painful to debilitating to fatal. How do you avoid those conditions? T e very abbreviated answer is to exhale
as you rise through the water. By allowing breath to escape your lungs during your ascent, you prevent overpressurizing the lungs and damaging the alveoli. But fi rst, you’ve got to get out of the aircraft. T us far, you’ve experienced no more than a chilly meeting room and some
hot coff ee. Now, it’s time to really learn how to survive an emergency egress—so, grab your swimsuit and your enthusiasm for introducing water into your sinuses, and head to the pool.
Opposite: Mike Mulford of Survival Systems USA delivers the classroom portion of the emergency egress training at HAI HELI-EXPO 2020 in Anaheim, California.
Right: In the pool, students cluster around the training devices, known as “chairs,” for the practical exercises.
2020 Q2 ROTOR 61
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
