Water Survival Training: Worth It for All

The military has long understood the need for aviation water survival training, which has saved the lives of many aviators. A private company in Groton, Connecticut, Survival Systems USA, has been offering aviation water survival training since 1999 and trains a broad range of clientele, including public service (fire and law enforcement) aircrews and foreign militaries. The training is also offered to general aviation pilots. Here’s a recap of my time there and what you might expect.

Complete Course

In May 2025, I took the company’s two-day aviation water survival course, which started with classroom lectures about hazards, equipment, and procedures associated with overwater flight. The academics also covered pre-ditching procedures and landing considerations. The training then moved to a specialized pool at the Survival Systems facility, where basic underwater escape training used the Shallow Water Egress Trainer (SWET) device. Following the training in the SWET, the training moved to the Modular Egress Training Simulator (METS). The METS is essentially a simulated aircraft cockpit and cabin lowered by an overhead crane into the pool.

The point here is learning how to deal with escape quickly and properly. Consider that if the pilot ditches the aircraft in water, the aircraft may not float for long and it may flip over, particularly if the landing gear is fixed or extended. Wearing an inflatable personal flotation device (PFD) is highly desirable but not sufficient for survival. In order to survive, the pilot needs to avoid serious injury, including loss of consciousness during the ditching, egress the aircraft, and then survive in the water until reaching the shore or being rescued.

Face the Challenge

The egress from the ditched aircraft presents many challenges. The pilot may be in shock or disoriented, under water, and inverted. An egress path needs to be selected and used and all of these things will be new and novel for the pilot in an extremely stressful situation. That’s partly what makes this course useful because you have practiced egress and survival in a controlled environment before dealing with an actual emergency.

If flying a single-engine airplane over water and outside of gliding distance to land, accept that a loss of power that cannot be corrected will result in a ditching. You don’t need hundreds of miles of ocean or a body of water like Lake Michigan. Where I fly in the Northeast, cruising down the Hudson River VFR corridor and experiencing an engine failure would mean choosing between landing in the densest urban area in the United States and ditching in the Hudson River or New York Harbor.

Choose Your Course

This basic ASET (aviation survival and egress training) program addresses the risks associated with frequent travel over or near water by providing fixed-wing and helicopter pilots, aircrew, and passengers with preflight, in-flight, and post-ditching knowledge and survival skills. It’s a four-hour course, which may be enough for the typical GA pilot to boost confidence and skill. There’s a presentation on hazards, equipment, and procedures associated with overwater flight. The course includes pre-ditching procedures and landing considerations, surface evacuation from a floating and submerging aircraft using emergency exits. Additionally, there’s a surface water survival exercise performed as a group, with personal hypothermia mitigation (using a life vest and life raft).

There are many ways you can customize the course based on your operations, and some courses qualify for FAA Wings credit.

Confidence Builder

I found the training at Survival Systems USA to be both challenging and excellent. It followed a crawl-walk-run approach, with simpler exercises leading up to the most challenging scenarios. By the end of the training, the METS was rolled upside down, the lights were turned off so it was dark in the pool, and the nearest exit was blocked. While potentially hazardous, the professional staff mitigated the risk of the training in several ways. There were instructors in the METS and safety divers outside of it, ready to pull any struggling student to safety. The incremental training approach built confidence and competence.

This course is a major investment in both time and money. Pricing ranges from $1,000 to $2,500 per participant, depending on the number of training days and combination of courses selected. Discuss exact prices with a company representative before booking, and they can be reached at 860-405-0002.