Helicopter underwater escape training

Members of ESA’s astronaut support teams participating in a helicopter underwater escape training which is mandatory for people involved in astronaut landing operations, including flight surgeons and photographers.

The course lasts for a full day, divided into theoretical and practical components. The practical part of the underwater escape training grows in intensity after the first introduction to the water. On the first round, a helicopter replica is gently submerged into the water and then increasing speed and even adding rotations on next attempts.

Once escaping from a submerged helicopter, participants receive training on further survival techniques such as boarding a life raft and mitigating the risk of hypothermia.

A successful certification for helicopter emergency water landings is valid for two years.