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"   Ellis Gayles San Diego, Calif. Age: 44 Years on Job: 9     Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ellis Gayles is charged with keeping military flight crews in optimal health while they&amp;#039;re in the air\u2014or, in the worst-case scenario, the water. To train aviators to survive a crash into the ocean, he and his staff employ the helo-dunker, a mock helicopter pod. Students climb into the dunker in full flight gear. The pod is lifted above a pool. Then it drops, hits the water, sinks and rolls\u2014and the air-crew members practice escaping a chaotic and deadly environment. &amp;quot;You may swim well, but put on a flight suit, a survival vest, a helmet and steel-toed boots, and it&amp;#039;s a whole different ballgame,&amp;quot; Gayles says. &amp;quot;You wouldn&amp;#039;t want the first time you realized it&amp;#039;s hard to move in that to be during a crash.&amp;quot;  How to Escape a Downed Chopper 1. Open the Hatches It takes heavy training to \u00ADdevelop the trigger-fast responses needed to eject aircraft windows and open doors in the seconds before the chopper hits. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s the presence of mind to think, okay, we trained on this, I know what to do,&amp;quot; Gayles says. (Most helicopter windows can be popped out underwater, but it takes much more effort.)  2. Breathe Deeply Each flight-crew member carries a soda-bottle-size scuba tank in his or her flight vest. The two-pound SEBD, or supplemental-egress breathing device, provides up to 3 minutes of air. And the regulator works no matter what direction it&amp;#039;s placed in the mouth. 3. Get a Grip Gayles teaches students to keep constant contact with a reference point inside the aircraft, and to pull themselves out, hand over hand. Let go, and they can lose all sense of direction\u2014and any hope of escape. They&amp;#039;re also drilled not to kick, which can result in getting caught up in gear or injuring someone else: &amp;quot;Get a steel-toed boot to the chops when you&amp;#039;re submerged and you&amp;#039;re likely to suck in water,&amp;quot; he says. 4. Conquer the Dark Once Gayles&amp;#039;s students can escape from the helo-dunker smoothly with their air tanks, they put on blacked-out swim goggles and repeat the sequence. The final dunk simulates the most difficult scenario: no light and no supplemental air. &amp;quot;The training forces you to figure out what you need to be doing to get out of there,&amp;quot; Gayles says. &amp;quot;Just talking about it isn&amp;#039;t the same.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/a6279/this-is-my-job-aerospace-physiologist/>