Survival training prepares pilots for land and water

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Lou Burton
  • 482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. --  Being disoriented, hit with several hundred pounds of gravitational force, and slammed into the ground or water may sound like an unrealistic event to prepare for, but for 38 pilots from Homestead Air Reserve Base the threat is very real.
 
Danger is an inherent part of flying because crashing is a possibility. To ensure the Airmen who take this risk in the air, combat and water survival training is given to secure the best outcome for a pilot that must eject from an aircraft.

The two-day training consisted of evading enemies after landing on the ground and surviving in the water May 4 and 5.

"We create a down crew scenario," said Master Sgt. Framis Ramos, 93rd Fighter Squadron aircrew flight equipment non-commissioned officer in charge. "That can encompass an aircraft being shot down, an impending crash, or an ejection from the aircraft."

The first day replicated survival training on the ground. Pilots followed an instructor from point-to-point to show the process of gathering materials, seeking shelter, discarding unnecessary supplies as not to inform enemy tracking; finding food, using maps, radio, and flares for signaling, and retrieval.

The second day of training takes place on the water off of Key Largo. Pilots learn how to drop from their parachute in the air, remove straps if being drug in the water, using rafts and equipment and finally they are air lifted by a Coast Guard Air Station Miami HH-65 helicopter.

The mandatory training is required to be administered every three years.

"Pilots receive initial 19 day long survival training," said Tech. Sgt. Matt O'Leary, a survival evasion resistance escape specialist assigned to Special Operations Command South. "We conduct this training to refresh and update any new techniques, procedures and technologies."

The training, a priority during the May weekend drill, focused on the life-saving techniques in the event of an emergency.

"Ask any pilot that has ejected from their aircraft, one of the first things they say is thank God I received the survival training," said Staff Sgt. Ronnie Wheeler, also a survival evasion resistance escape specialist assigned to SOCSOUTH.

A truth corroborated by a pilot who experienced firsthand how the training is put to use.

"On June 15, 2008, I had to eject from my aircraft after suffering spatial disconnection during a night flight over water," said Lt. Col. Peter Smith, 93rd Fighter Squadron pilot. "I spent a total of one hour and 45 minutes in 65 degree water at night. I started to suffer from hypothermia and I automatically went through the procedures we learn here. The survival training we are receiving here was instrumental in saving my life that night."