The Dilbert Dunker is a device for training pilots on how to correctly escape a submerged plane.
It was invented by Ensign Wilfred Kaneb, an aviation engineer at NAS Pensacola, in 1943–1944. [1] [2]
Originally named the "Underwater Cockpit Escape Device," the device was known since its earliest days as the "Dilbert Dunker" in reference to Dilbert Groundloop, a World War II-era cartoon character in Navy aviation training videos and posters who is incapable of doing things right. [1]
The original Dilbert Dunker combined the forward fuselage of an SNJ Texan—including "all equipment in the cockpit that would hinder a pilot’s exit" (instrument panel, stick, and pedals)—with a 45 degree rail that sends the cockpit from a high stand at the deep end of the training pool; at the end of the run under water it flips over to simulate a water ditching. The cockpit would hit the water at 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) before inverting. The preflight student must detach the communication wire from the helmet, release the seat and shoulder harness, dive still deeper and swim away from the "aircraft" at a 45-degree angle to the surface for the purpose of assuming that the water around an actual situation has burning fuel on the surface. [1]
The Dunker was still in use as of 1997, [2] and a helicopter-specific version remains in service as of 2013 [update], even though the original version has fallen out of service. [1]