Air search and rescue specialists: professional training specifics.

The psychological factor in aircraft accidents and other extreme situations and the specific activities of aerospace search and rescue specialists performing high-risk missions single out the problem of their professional training into a separate subject of investigation. This applies, in the first place, to the training of air search and rescue commanders.

An air search and 'rescue service (ASARS) commanding officer must have specific knowledge of the requirements of regulatory documents, experience in developing such documents, and skills and experience in organizing aeronautical activities (level--not below separate air unit commander). He should be able to compare different factors and conditions, to predict their direct impact on the outcome of search and rescue efforts (SAR), and to interact with diverse ministries, agencies and organizations.

Today the problems of training such command personnel are considered only from the standpoint of administrative control of career development, and this, in our opinion, is clearly insufficient. Hence the obvious need for an objective rethinking of the process of training air search and rescue officers.

Prior to 1994, Russia had a Unified State Air Search and Rescue Service, which exercised general command and control of search and rescue support for the country's entire aviation and different-purpose space objects, and also trained air rescuers and other SAR and parachute service specialists for ministries and agencies in possession of aircraft. Its legal successor today is the Federal Aerospace Search and Rescue Administration under the RF Defense Ministry.

Unfortunately, the current lack of a proper air rescuers qualification system is one of the reasons for the low professional standards of ASARS personnel. Hence the difficulties in staffing the central aerospace search and rescue agencies with highly skilled personnel from the regions. That is why one of the central tasks of the Federal Aerospace Search and Rescue Administration is to address the problems of professional training of personnel for the Russian search and rescue complex, to ensure their professional development, and to provide incentives for enhancing the quality and efficiency of their difficult and dangerous work. This conclusion derives from an awareness of the fact that aerospace search and rescue specialists are, in a way, unique personnel who perform missions in extreme conditions requiring high professional standards; from the urgent need to deepen the professional specialization of this category of specialists against the background of intensive growth of small airlines and private flying clubs, as well as a high probability of major natural and man-made disasters; and from the need to overcome the disorganizing processes within the system of ASARS personnel training and professional development that have resulted from the sometimes unwarranted reductions in the number of air search and rescue units and specialists.

It is regrettable that the professionalism of rescuers is often assessed only at individual level. The sum of the individual qualities of people, however talented, does not always enhance the professionalism of the entire service. In assessing a collective, due account should be taken not only of the sum, but also of the combination of its members' qualities. That is why we need a new, comprehensive approach to assessing the professional standards of air rescuers, especially of the command personnel of the search and rescue complex.

The way out of this situation is to upgrade (reform) the ASARS personnel training system. Professional experience is gained in the process of daily activities, and also in the process of education at special air rescuers training centers. Training of ASARS specialists and flight personnel is designed to ensure a high level of psychological and physical readiness for the performance of search and rescue missions, to improve the methods of ground search for those in distress and provision of first aid, and to develop the skills of landing and evacuation of victims on land and water in standard and adverse weather conditions.

The training of flight personnel and air rescuers at special centers is an element of combat training and is effected by developing practical survival skills based on theoretical knowledge and realistic training. In addition, such centers address special tasks, as stated in the Statute on Special (Flight Personnel Survival) Centers, enacted by an order of the commander-in-chief of the Air Force in 1999.

At the same time, Russia today has no more than 400 professional pararescue jumpers, although it requires over a thousand, but today there are no specialized educational institutions for training such specialists. The possibilities of specialized centers that train flight personnel to survive in the conditions of autonomous existence, on whose basis pararescuemen for the Armed Forces are now trained with the use of the assembly method (up to 60 pararescuemen per year), are limited both in terms of the number of trainees and in terms of training standards. Moreover, pararescuemen undergo retraining at existing centers once every 8 to 10 years, whereas this should be done at least once every two or three years.

In order to save material resources (without lowering the quality of personnel training), it is necessary to integrate different types of centers into a single center with a comprehensive training program. Such an interagency center (IC), as we see it, will be designed to train flight personnel of air search and rescue formations of the Defense Ministry, Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Civil Aviation Service, Federal Security Service and other agencies for the performance of search and rescue missions (operations), to provide allround training and instruction for professional air rescuers. Such an IC could train:

* flight officers and crew members of search and rescue formations (up to 40 aircrews per year) for instruction work in the most complicated types of SAR;

* pararescuemen of ministries and agencies (up to 200 persons per year) for the performance of peacetime and wartime SAR in extreme conditions at any time of year and day;

* chiefs of parachute services of aviation units and formations, organizations of ministries and agencies, and instructors in the organization and techniques of training flight personnel and pararescuemen for survival and performance of SAR;

* flight personnel of ministries and agencies (up to 200 persons per year) for autonomous survival after an emergency landing or abandonment of aircraft in mid-air.

The interagency center can also take an active part in developing methods, recommendations and instructions for the preparation and performance of SAR in different conditions and for survival in peacetime and wartime, and also in developing, producing and testing modern rescue equipment.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the system for training air search and rescue personnel in the Russian Federation has on the whole taken shape. Training programs have been elaborated and tested, and their effective implementation is possible, in our opinion, on the basis of an interagency center for training command personnel of air search and rescue services of ministries and agencies.

Air Force Maj. Gen. A.A. YEFREMENKOV (Res.)

Anatoly Alexandrovich YEFREMENKOV was born on 26 June, 1947, in the town of Lesozavodsk, Primorsky Krai. After graduation with honors from the Chelyabinsk Higher Military Air Navigation School (1968) and the V.I. Lenin Military Political Academy (1977), he served as crew navigator, senior crew navigator, squadron signal officer, deputy squadron commander, deputy regiment commander, deputy chief of divisional political department, chief of divisional political department/deputy divisional commander, and first deputy chief of military transport aviation political department. In 1989, he was appointed chief of military political department/deputy commander of the Siberian Military District Air Force. From 1992 to 2002, Yefremenkov served at the Federal Aerospace Search and Rescue Administration as chief of the survival section, chief of the organizational-planning section, and deputy chief of the search and rescue support (space flights) directorate.