Helicopter emergency egress mini-SCUBA system

[Bob Hudson]

I had never heard of these until I ran across a few at a local thrift store.

 

Wikipedia offers a nice summary of them:

Helicopter Emergency Egress Device (HEED) is a small scuba tank worn by pilots and crewmen of helicopters in the event that they are trapped for a short period of time underwater following a ditching or crash over water. HEED Bottles come in different sizes and are generally found in the 1.7 to 3.0-cubic-foot (85 L) range. HEED systems also come with hose regulators and are known as Helicopter Aircrew Breathing Device (HABD).

 

The dollar bill gives you an idea of the small size of these. I think they hold perhaps two minutes of air.

 

 

It even has a mini pressure gauge:

 

[hawkdriver]

Yes, that is a HEED, a later version of the type that had the mouthpiece on the bottle itself. It has subsequently been replaced by the Sea MkII, which looks similar, but better built.

They are designed to give a couple minutes of air, but it really depends on how excited you are and how much you are sucking the air down. I have seen people be so frightened that they sucked down a entire bottle in 30 seconds.

These are carried in a pocket on our survival vest and used in conjunction with a floatation device on our vests. It gives you enough time to escape the aircraft and surface. They do work quite well.

[Bob Hudson]

Yes, that is a HEED, a later version of the type that had the mouthpiece on the bottle itself. It has subsequently been replaced by the Sea MkII, which looks similar, but better built.

 

 

Here's the label closeup, which has both "Helicopter Emergency Egress Device" and "HABD" (Helicopter Aircrew Breathing Device):

 

[Bob Hudson]

Here's what wikipedia says about HABD:

The Helicopter Aircrew Breathing Device or HABD is a piece of military survival gear which was adopted in order to increase the chances of survival for embarked troops and aircrew trapped in an aircraft which has ditched (crashed into a body of water.) Similar in function to SCUBA gear, it consists of a small cylinder pressurized with atmospheric air and first stage regulator worn in a pouch on the user's flotation vest; a pressure gauge; an air hose and a special second-stage regulator (the part that delivers air via the user's mouth). The regulator is on-demand (it only delivers air when the user breathes in) and is designed to be highly rugged in order to survive impacts associated with emergency ditchings.

 

Since a full-size SCUBA cylinder would be prohibitively bulky, especially for troops already laden with full combat gear, the HABD must be small and thus limited in capacity. It provides roughly two minutes of air at the surface. This decreases rapidly with depth and with the heightened breathing rate that accompanies stress. Still, even a few breaths in such a situation can mean the difference between life and death.

[hawkdriver]

The HABD didn't last long in the system, most units went straight from HEED to SEA MK II. I don't remember what the flaw was, but the HABD was hyped as being a much better device than the HEED, then we seemed to skip directly to the SEA.

These units are a COTS item that was taken from the civilian diving community that designed these as "spare air" for divers that wanted them for emergency ascent when they either had a catastrophic failure of their main system or ran out of air. Many of these military systems, when DX'd get bought up by civilians that can't afford real spare airs.

[Spathologist]

The dunker at Jacksonville used to include an underwater obstacle course that you had to navigate using a HEED. The nose was left open, and it was amusing to see some of the reactions when the users had to turn upside-down to navigate one of the barriers.

[hawkdriver]

We conduct our own overwater survival training as a prep for the dunker. We give a initial class on "how to breathe", it's not as intuitive as many people would think, it's a scary event for those that have never been through training before, imagine what it would be like the first time you have to use it.

[mmerc20]

Figures. I have a brand new one in the box that I was going to put up on the sale boards but never got around to doing. I have pictures somewhere and if I can find them I will post them here.

[Floyd]

Not just for Helos - We used HEEDs bottles in our E-2C squadron back in the early 90s. We had the type with the integrated mouth piece. Pretty slick.

[mohawkALSE]

I think the 40/P HABD was only used by the USN and USMC. If you look at the contract number on it being from 1997 I think its also a Navy contract. I think that's a very early model too because most of the HABD's Ive seen for sale have a black tank and If I recall correct a 1999 contract. The SEA MK II looks similar to the later 40/P

 

I have a couple of the older 36/P HEED bottles both of which are 1992 dated. I believe the Navy was the first to use those til the Army adapted them in the mid 90s. One of my two 36/Ps is actually labeled as a SALES SAMPLE from the Army Research Lab tests from 1993. If you look at pics from the 90s you will see the 160th SOAR used them early on and the regular Army adapted them later. When I get my desk top back up and running I'll post some pics of the HEEDs and the various Army type carrying pockets. I've seen the Navy had mod kits for the SV-2B survival vest to mount the HEED as well as there being a special pocket for the HABD for the AIRSAVE vest.

[hink441]

We (USN) used HEEDS bottles in the mid 80's. I remember them around 1985-86 or so.

[Spathologist]

I first used what I think was a 36/P in 1990 during "HEEDS Qual"...we jumped in the 10' deep end of the safehouse pool wearing chicken plate under a SRU-21/P vest, and sucked on the HEEDS until we could get the armor off and get to the surface. Or not.

[mohawkALSE]

Got a few pics of my SRU-36/P HEED bottles. One has a custom vinyl pouch that I was told was used in conjunction with the Army SARVIP survival vest. The bottle in that pouch was from an Army test lab and dated 1992. The second bottle I have is 1988 dated and is in the pouch for an AIRSAVE survival vest.

The fill port on the regulator assembly (knurled plug with indicator pin next to the On/Off knob) is always to be pointed away from the body as it is under a lot of pressure. When the HEED is on, the indicator pin would be flush with the green index line. The Army -10 for the AIRSAVE survival vest actually covers a small portion on use of the SRU-36/P.

[hink441]

Found two of these bottles today at a local shop. These are dated 2002 and 2001.

 

[hink441]

The label.

 

[Dave]

On the ship, our engineering watchstanders were equipped with the SEED...basically looked the same, but without the air breathing tube (the mouthpiece was right on the bottle...)

[hink441]

On the ship, our engineering watchstanders were equipped with the SEED...basically looked the same, but without the air breathing tube (the mouthpiece was right on the bottle...)

Dave, I was not aware the snipes also used these!!

 

Chris

[MWalsh]

Are there any known "saves" from HEED bottles?

[hink441]

Here is a USCG account of a fatal helo mishap where a HEEDS bottle saved the pilot.

 

http://www.kcaw.org/2012/11/20/leone-part-two-a-rapid-liquid-stop/

[MWalsh]

Quite a story, thanks for posting the link!

[northcoastaero]

The HEED and HABD could also be used in the C-2 Greyhound aircraft. I have seen the HABD used by P-3 Orion aircrews also.