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STRAPPED INTO A SINKING HELICOPTER (with U.S. Marines) - Smarter Every Day 201

Jun 07, 2021
(

helicopter

flight) (alarm systems beeping) - Abandonment, abandonment, abandonment. (water running) - So, I'm alive. (laughs) Alright, here's the deal. My last assignment as a US government official was in a

helicopter

off the coast of Hawaii. We'll learn about that in a future episode, but this video is different. This isn't like Destin was going to explore something and make a video on the internet about it, this is an actual training scenario that I was assigned and had to go through to get certified to fulfill my mission. Let's think about a plane crash in the water. When a plane lands on water, you have these two long wings on the side that serve as pontoons and keep the plane upright.
strapped into a sinking helicopter with u s marines   smarter every day 201
Up is up, down is down. You usually see on the news people walking on wings and waiting on boats to pick them up and things like that. Helicopters are different, in a helicopter you have these heavy engines on top, and no matter what, if you land, the weight of the engine will cause the helicopter to flip over and you will start to sink. The goal of this training is to survive that scenario, and Marines go through that all the time. People who work on offshore oil platforms, this is an important part of training that will save lives.
strapped into a sinking helicopter with u s marines   smarter every day 201

More Interesting Facts About,

strapped into a sinking helicopter with u s marines smarter every day 201...

This is my instructor, Corey Catlett. He has trained helicopter pilots for years supporting oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, but today he is training me along with a class of young US Marines. The training started very seriously from the beginning. They show us a fatal helicopter accident and explain the environment through which the people inside the helicopter pass. After that, Corey explained the techniques and equipment you would use to get out of a situation like this. For example, he explained what is called "rodeo grip" and how you have to anchor yourself to the seat. He explained how important it is to exhale to the surface of the water so that your lungs don't explode when you stand up and put Boyle's law into practice.
strapped into a sinking helicopter with u s marines   smarter every day 201
It is a very serious environment and you have to use science, knowledge and understanding to get out of it safely. We took a quiz to make sure we understood

every

thing he was talking about and then the next day at dawn we headed to the pool. They're nervous? - Oh, no, we're fine. (

marines

laughing) - Are you okay? - Yes. - I feel like

every

one acts like you're not nervous, but you are. - My philosophy is that all of you must die at some point or later and I suppose this is the time to do it. (laughing) - I don't know how to swim. - You don't know how to swim at all?
strapped into a sinking helicopter with u s marines   smarter every day 201
Can I raise my hand who doesn't know how to swim? - Do we have someone who doesn't know how to swim? (Destin laughing) Don't you know how to swim? - Not precisely. - So you guys aren't allowed to be friends, right? Because one of you, that's amazing. So are you afraid? - Hey, terrified. - Okay, then I'll get into that. Which is a little intimidating if I'm honest. Long before you are

strapped

into a helicopter, you must first learn to lie face down underwater and let the water flood your sinuses. When you first enter this tilting device, the tasks are quite simple.
The first thing you do is grab the seat between your legs in what's called a rodeo hold, and then you find your way out, grab it, unbuckle your seat belt, and then get out. After you get it right, they make it a little harder by adding a hatch that you had to free yourself from and then finally they add the full regulator, so you take a breath before you get out. - I didn't know we were going to do this, I thought we were actually going to go in right away. - Me neither. - I'm kind of glad they're taking steps to show us how to do all these little things before we get on the helicopter. - Yes, it's like crawling, walking, running, right?
I have to be honest about this part. I have an advanced open water diving certification, so I'm used to breathing with a regulator. So while the Marines were there learning how to breathe with a regulator for the first time, I thought I was just going to walk up and roll over on my stomach, and breathe naturally, and it wasn't going to be a problem. I was very wrong. Every time I have dived I have had this type of mask that covers the nose. The problem is that when you don't have that mask on and you turn around, water enters your nose and fills your sinuses, and the last thing your body wants to do at that moment is breathe.
He was holding me down there and encouraging me to breathe, which was a challenge because I had to overcome my mental fear of inhaling water and at the same time clear a regulator and take a deep breath. This was the hardest part of the training for me. (Destin coughs up water) - It sucks that all the water goes in through your nose, right? (Destin laughing) - It's worse than I thought. It's the nose thing, right? - It is, and that's what makes people hit the panic button. - This is the simulator. It contains all the escape hatches common on Marine Corps aircraft and is very intimidating.
Everyone here is trying to be tough and all, but it's a submerged helicopter. It's quite intimidating. - Abandon, abandon, abandon. (machine whirring) (water splashing) - Holy cow. The first dunk is the craziest. Because everyone is a little scared. For example, you can see that this marine here has lost his way. He is out of his seat, he has turned around, he no longer has his point of reference. Everything becomes so chaotic that the safety diver abandons my chamber to swim and start saving people. - Yes, only one went through that one. They lost reference points. They ended up loosening their seat belts first and then trying to shake off the criticism, and it's like a loose sock in the dryer.
If you don't put your butt in the seat, what happens? - You get lost and I got lost. - Yes, you get lost. Think about walking through your house with everything upside down, you won't know where the doors are, you won't know where anything is. - By the way, think about what these instructors go through in each race. They have to watch and be aware of everything that is happening in the midst of this crazy environment, find the person who is in trouble, figure out how to help them and do it quickly. And if they don't, someone could get hurt or even die.
This is serious work for these instructors. (Marines applauding) - Calm down and focus on what we're doing here. We're trying to keep you alive if you crash into the sea, right? So focus on that. - The job you have here is quite serious. - Well, it's high-risk training. There is a possibility of death, huh? In high risk training. Hey, the divers are ready! - Abandon, abandon, abandon. - Abandoning! (machines whirring) - Because you're watching this on video, it's really hard to explain how completely disorienting it is. Everything that sank now seems to float. Your bubbles are going in the wrong direction.
Your feet rise above you. For example, watch this simulator reset and watch what the seat buckles do in the water. Your frame of reference is spinning, okay. So if you look at this you will be able to understand it. But imagine trying to figure that out while you're blind, doing a coordinated transformation in your head while simultaneously moving and your sinuses filling with water. So if you can do that, you'll be great. (laughs) - You unbuckle your belt and your body will come to the surface. Your lungs are full of air. And when you do that on a plane upside down, oh no, now everything is upside down.
It's hard to figure out how to get out of that thing. It is better to stay invested with him. When you go underwater, your vision drops to 2200, or worse, in murky water, it's dark, it's late at night, you can't see anything. So sitting in a seat you know where you are. If you are sitting in a seat you know exactly where you are. And then we tell them, "Hey, don't let go and move on, stay in the seat, slide in the seat." Because all planes have seats with their backs against the wall where the exits are, right?
So if you're in a seat, you know where you are. You know which direction, "Oh, it's on my right." Even though it's muddy, I can go to my right about five seats down and I should be able to feel the wall and find my way out, right? If you get up from the seat, you will go on your back. And then it's like, "Oh, no." Now their chairs hang from the ceiling. It's disorienting. - Once that frame of reference is lost, it is difficult to recover it. - It's not impossible to find the way out if that happens, but it's more difficult. - In the second mate, people tend to take the issue of not dying a little more seriously.
If the first dunk is about panic, the second is about staying calm and learning to take your time and think. - Okay guys, now that you have air it gives you a little time to get out, stay calm. I want to see at least two breaths of air before you start trying to get out. Abandoning, abandoning, abandoning! - The next races give you a bottle, which seems like it would solve all your problems, but it doesn't. I know it's hard to remember, but your face is full of water up to your sinuses. This Marine you're seeing is having trouble breathing for the first time because his sinuses are full, so he makes the symbol asking the instructors to help him get it out.
He puts his hands on his head and the instructors stop what they were doing and take him out of the simulator. If you have that problem again, he pinches your nose while you still have your seat belt on, takes a deep breath and once you release your nose that epiglottis will close, and then uses your hands to get out of that helicopter. In the third race people start to understand what is happening, the trick is to keep your reference points, think with your brain and get out alive. You can see here that it looks much more efficient than previous runs.
When you have a situation that goes wrong very quickly, and things literally hit the fan, like the rotors start hitting the water, and life turns upside down, and you feel like you're

sinking

, like you're in over your head , and it is a situation that you don't know how to deal with. Some of these kids couldn't swim. If you get scared at that moment, you will stay in that dark place. That's literally suicide, you can't do it. What you have to do is stay anchored to the truth, stay anchored to the things you know. Maintain your frame of reference.
For me, in my life, personally, I have things that I stay anchored to and that keep me aligned with the truth. So in that situation you do it and then you start thinking of a safe way out of the situation. If you don't react correctly and stop and think, things can go very wrong quickly. It is very, very important not to get scared in the chaos. Make one decision after another, thinking about it slowly, that will bring you closer and closer to the light. And eventually, once you do that, in a series you will make it and see the light again.
I hope you enjoyed this video. It was an exciting training session. I felt like I learned a lot both for my job in helicopters and for life in general. I'm Destin, every day you get

smarter

. Good luck to you, goodbye. (laughing) (water splashing loudly) - Help! (laughing) - Good job friend. - Thank you! - Yeah! - Very good, personal note, swimming lessons. (laughing) To do! (laughing) - You did good, man. - Thank you. - That was much better. - For this one you have to get out of the helicopter. - Hey, in reality...

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