Week One of JECC Done

I had an amazing day today! It was back to the pool this morning to participate in the Dunker. We started with 15 students being turned upside down while strapped into floating chairs while learning how to "egress" from helicopter seats. Some were with eyes open and some were with blackout goggles. Eleven of us passed the three qualifying events allowing us to to climb into the actual Dunker. We were strapped into the cabin of a helicopter as it was lowered into the pool before being flipped over. While we were upside down we had to find our reference point (wall of cabin) before pushing out the windows and unbuckling our seatbelts. Once we were free of our belts we were able to exit the cabin and swim to the top. (Remember this is all done upside down.) Our first two trips into the Dunker were done with our eyes open. Our third and final trip into the Dunker was done with our blackout goggles on. It was a little scary, but it sure was fun!!

After getting cleaned up and having a quick lunch it was back to the skills training facility. We spent the afternoon reviewing our flight equipment before pairing up and jumping into the back of our simulators to run a flight. Let's just say my patient did not do as well as I would have liked. But on the brighter side...lesson learned.