Dilbert dunker retired.

NAS Whidbey Island, Wash., retired its 9E8E single-place underwater egress trainer on 14 November 2003. Capt. Stephen Black, above, is one of more than 8,300 aircrew personnel who trained in the "Dilbert Dunker" since it was put into use in 1984 as part of the Aviation Survival Training Center's curriculum. The device impacts the water, submerges and turns upside down while the student is strapped in the "cockpit." The 9E8E trainer was retired when the Naval Operational Medicine Institute opened a new $4.5 million state-of-the-art Aircrew Water Survival Training Facility at Whidbey Island in mid-January 2004. A multiplace underwater egress trainer that can seat multiple fliers; a parachute overwater trainer; and a parachute drag and helicopter trainer are part of the new pool complex.