MovieChat Forums > An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) Discussion > Anybody else think the crash simulator l...

Anybody else think the crash simulator looks fun?


Anybody else think the crash simulator looks really fun? I remember watching it and wondering why that guy paniced. Sure a real plane crash in the ocean would be different story but the simulator looks like great fun. Like something they should have a water park.

Anybody else agree?

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It can be fun, if you're the kind of person who is not fazed by it. But some people actually do get disoriented and panic, much like they depicted in the movie. That's why they have trained Navy divers down there monitoring the tests at all times.

The device (it's called Dilbert Dunker, by the way) is meant to train pilots and aircrew on how to correctly escape a submerged and "flipped" aircraft. But even more, it's designed to test a person's reactions and capabilities, also their ability to remain calm and rational in a sudden, chaotic situation. So it's kind of a mental test as well, not just a water survival or swimming test.

Having something like that at a water park would probably never be allowed. Could you imagine the lawsuits? One panicked person drowning under that thing, and the water park would be out of business!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_Dunker

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Fair enough.

Yeah, I was joking when I said I should it be in a water park but if I ever get the chance to try this I'd totally go for it.

I also happen to make amateur films, please check them out :)
www.youtube.com/johncswheatley

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Looked scary to me. Did you see how fast that thing went in the water? Looked like a Cedar Point ride.

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I got to try the 'Dilbert Dunker' back in 1984 when I went through Naval Aircrewman Candidate School. Us enlisted guys were required to go through the 'Helo Dunker', basically a huge drum with six seats that gets submerged and rolled to simulate a larger aircraft 'ditching' at sea. This was probably somewhat more dangerous in principle, as you had to rely on the other crew members not panicking during the egress. They let anyone who wanted to try the 'Dilbert Dunker' give that one a whirl as well. I'd say at least 3/4's of my class of 30 plus Sailors and Marines gave it a try. What late teen or early 20 year old wouldn't?

They were both fun, but gave you just a small expectation of what to expect if God forbid you were ever in an aircraft that had to ditch at sea. Surviving the crash would just be the beginning of the ordeal...

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From the look of it, I am wondering if it helps if the person has more experience in the water than the others -- swimming, diving, boating, that kind of thing? I don't know anything about the kind of training they would receive before entering the program but I would assume that being a capable swimmer would be an essential aspect.

I don't know about this but if one swims and dives a great deal you get exposure to that disoriented, upside down feeling that can happen, especially in deeper water, the ocean, and water that isn't so clear -- or if you get smashed by a wave and pushed down against the ocean floor and momentarily pinned. The first time this happened to me I was about eight or nine (and trying to show off for my older cousin who was a great surfer), and I was learning very quickly that swimming in the ocean was nothing at all like swimming in a pool, which I had been doing for years at that point. The ocean was a different creature entirely.

"On Pet Rescue today, the clever stoat keeps everyone on their toes in Somerset!"

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have you ever been tipped upside down in water? By yourself or by some one? It's most disconcerting, water can flow up your nostrils, it's how water boarding works, panic could definitely set in, since you're going to be dead in a few minutes. I've done open water swimming and diving, I might be ok in it, but it could still go wrong.

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Hell No! I start to panic just by watching it in the movie. That would have been when I quit the training program all together.









I woke up this way...

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It does look fun to me, but I'm a swimmer.

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