AAMedP-1.19 helicopter emergency underwater breathing apparatus

What it is

AAMedP-1.19 is a short NATO Allied Aeromedical Publication on helicopter emergency underwater breathing apparatus, known throughout the document by its acronym HEUBA: equipment aircrew carry to extend their ability to escape a helicopter that has come down on water. The current edition is Edition B, Version 1, promulgated in May 2021, effective on receipt and superseding Edition A, Version 1, which affected nations were told to destroy under local document-destruction procedure.

The document explains why HEUBA exists before it sets any requirement. It states there is enough evidence to say aircrew can fail to survive a helicopter ditching and the inversion and flooding that can follow, despite underwater escape training and survivable crash dynamics, and it records that survivors have described a reduced ability to hold their breath in cold water, disorientation, difficulty reaching egress points and snagging hazards. It also notes that HEUBA needs a deliberate action to use, unlike normal aircraft oxygen systems, and so cannot guarantee an incapacitated crew member's survival, and that current HEUBA designs carry a risk of a serious pressure-related injury if aircrew hold their breath while ascending after use, a risk it says training and practice reduce.

Who it addresses, and how it binds

The document names two audiences without using either word directly. It addresses "flight personnel and other crew members" as the people HEUBA is for, and it sets criteria for whoever designs or integrates the equipment into an aircrew equipment assembly: "HEUBA should be man mounted and fully integrated into aircrew equipment assemblies." It names no National Authority, manufacturer or procurement role anywhere in its text.

It creates no direct obligation for a commercial supplier. Nations agree to use AAMedP-1.19 through STANAG 7078 - the Letter of Promulgation states that "the agreement of nations to use this publication is recorded in STANAG 7078" - and this edition "is effective upon receipt," a nation-to-nation trigger rather than a contract clause. One nation, Slovenia, recorded at promulgation that its flight personnel are "not equipped with HEUBA" and that purchasing the equipment "is not planned in the medium term projects," a reminder that a STANAG's ratification does not mean every nation has adopted the equipment it concerns.

What it requires

Issue is gated on training: "HEUBA will only be issued to personnel who have been trained in its use." The equipment itself should be man mounted and fully integrated into aircrew equipment assemblies, allowing rapid activation whether or not the wearer is restrained, minimal interference with any seat restraint system, minimal risk of dislodgement or of injuring the wearer in a survivable crash, no interference with seat or control interfaces, and support for both emergency and normal escape from the aircraft. The document sets minimum performance criteria for the air HEUBA delivers under adverse conditions, and calls for a state-of-charge indicator giving a quick, unambiguous reading of whether the equipment is ready for use.

On training, the programme should progress from an introduction to inverted underwater escape training through further escape training, with continuation training needed "so that aircrew maintain proficiency in the use of HEUBA." Training staff should understand the general risks of breathing compressed gas underwater, recognise the medical complications training can produce and the conditions they can be mistaken for, and know what to do if one occurs. The document also asks that medical cover and access to a recompression facility be considered wherever this training is delivered.

How it is evaluated

AAMedP-1.19 names no accredited certification body, notified body or government quality-assurance scheme, and sets no mechanism by which an organisation is assessed against it. What it describes is an issuance gate a nation administers itself: HEUBA is only issued once training is complete, and continuation training sustains that afterwards. The evidence would sit in a nation's own training and issuance records, not in a third-party audit of a company.

Getting the document

NATO publishes AAMedP-1.19 free of charge through the NATO Standardization Document Database. ComplyTrain does not sell it or hold a copy for distribution; the NSDD listing for AAMedP-1.19 is the source. It is covered by STANAG 7078, and its related-documents chapter names the general aeromedical training framework covered by STANAG 3114 and detailed in AAMedP-1.2.

Standards it references

• STANAG 3114Background
• AAMedP-1.2Background