For many aviators, the prospect of crashing into the water is one of their biggest fears. Would you survive if you found yourself in this terrifying and unimaginable situation? Learning what to do in an emergency is one of the most important things you can do to ensure that you, your family, your passengers and your employees have the skills needed to stay safe.
Fatal seaplane accidents are often the result of post-impact drownings. Most people who drown do so inside the cabin of the aircraft. Pilots and passengers who receive underwater egress training have a much better chance of escaping from the aircraft and surviving the accident.
Since 1998, AES has trained close to 10,000 students on what to do in the event of an emergency. Our mobile training has been held in 67 locations across Canada. Every single one of our students involved in an aircraft ditching incident after taking our course got out alive and emphatically stated that the training they received from AES was invaluable.
“ In an instant, we were upside down, 8 feet down, with 450 feet of water below us. The windshield shattered on impact, and the cockpit filled with water instantly. This is where your training kicked in, and the first of three very important factors happened in saving our lives."
Tony
When he was 17 years old and about 40 hours into his flight training, Bryan went for a ride with a family friend in his Cessna 150. On the way back home and shortly before landing, they crashed hard into the Fraser River while trying to avoid power lines. Bryan was lucky to escape the sinking aircraft and even managed to pull his unconscious friend from the wreckage, saving his life.
Undeterred by the accident, Bryan went on to become a commercial pilot. Years later, after a close call due to an engine malfunction while flying freight over water, Bryan began to lobby for egress training for all of the company's pilots. He soon found that no such training existed outside the military. He then began to develop a program himself and pioneered Aviation Egress Systems. “Bry the Dunker guy” was born.
Aviation Egress Systems gives pilots and passengers of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters the skills to survive an aircraft ditching incident through comprehensive classroom and in-water training.
You’ll learn how to effectively exit a sinking aircraft and how to help your passengers get out safely. Our courses have been developed and refined over 24 years, ensuring that each of our students receives the highest level of training possible.
We believe that anyone who flies in a fixed-wing seaplane or helicopter on a regular basis as a pilot or passenger should take egress training to better understand what might happen if an unforeseen incident occurs.
We'll teach you everything you need to know about surviving an airplane crash into water. Our underwater egress course is specially designed to help you get out alive in the event of an emergency. We offer classes in many locations across Canada, based on registration. so there is likely a course available for you in a nearby community.
Our training starts with our AES E-Learning Ground School. Our online egress training program eliminates the need for a lengthy classroom seminar and allows participants to review the material at their own pace. It will take approximately 3 hours to complete and is a prerequisite for our Wet Egress Training.
In our half-day Wet Egress Training Session, we begin with an introduction and review of the material covered in the Dry Egress e-learning course. We then move into the pool for practical training with life vests and rafts and go through various egress simulations, rescue scenarios, and buoyancy exercises. We conclude the day with a Q&A session and debrief.
"Strongly recommend taking this course if you fly anywhere near bodies of water, whether you’re a passenger or pilot. I cannot believe the amount of information and skills I learned from this course! Very safe and friendly environment, thanks again, Bryan and Patti!"
"I recently took this course for the second time, and as a 10,000-hour commercial floatplane pilot, I believe fully it is a must for anyone flying over water. They have the course and the care to have you competent and confident in exiting in an emergency."
"The instructors Bryan and Patti responded to the comfort and competency level of each participant, encouraging questions and practicing with different scenarios. Anyone flying over open water, whether commercial or charter, should take this course if they can."