The Life-Saving Drill of Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET)

Most people wouldn’t consider being strapped into a seat, flipped upside down underwater in a helicopter simulator, and forced to escape through a small window. While wearing a lifejacket, helmet, and overalls a fun activity. Yet for personnel in the Police, Military, Westpac Rescue, Coastguard Air Patrol, Paramedics, and aviation industries, the ability to escape a sinking or capsized helicopter is a vital survival skill.

The training takes place in a specially designed pool housing a helicopter cabin simulator. It’s mounted on hydraulic arms capable of replicating a crash scenario: dropping, spinning, and capsizing in water. Participants are strapped into five-point harnesses, just like in a real aircraft. Once initiated, the simulator plunges into the pool and flips upside down as the cabin gradually floods. Your escape must be swift, methodical, and precise, as in a real emergency, survival hinges on what happens in the first 60 seconds. Panic, disorientation, and the sheer force of impact can be overwhelming.

While HUET (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training  is not compulsory for all volunteer Coastguard crew members, completing the water survivability assessment is. Crew must be able to: tread water for five minutes, swim 200m, swim 100m with a lifejacket on, tow another person in the water 200m and safely make it back onboard the Coastguard Rescue Vessel (CRV) from the water. All while wearing everyday clothes, overalls and shoes/ gumboots.

While taking part in the HUET, participants were also tasked with getting into a life raft from the water while wearing inflated life jackets. Unlike the ones typically worn aboard the CRV, these jackets weren’t fitted with crotch straps, making the exercise significantly more difficult and uncomfortable, as the jacket constantly rode up around the chin. This experience highlighted just how crucial crotch straps are, especially for small children. Without one, a life jacket can easily slip off in the water, defeating its purpose entirely.

Sea survival training bridges the gap between fear and readiness, turning uncertainty into confidence. It teaches you not just how to survive, but how to take control when everything else feels out of it.

Char Downes | Hibiscus Coastguard

Experienced qualified crew member.