I think it’s safe to say September 9th, 2013 was
one of the scariest days of my life thus far.
Several weeks prior I had signed up to take Rig Pass, Safegulf, Safeland,
Personnel Transfer Basket, Swing Rope, and Offshore Water Survival (AKA: HUET
METS Model 5…. AKA: Helicopter Underwater Escape Training) courses as this was
a prerequisite to go offshore (to visit the rigs/rig employees for work purposes.) Yes, I said Helicopter Underwater Escape
Training. In other words, the scariest darn
thing you could ever do!!!! Okay, I know I’m being a bit dramatic here as there
are many things more frightening than this. But, based on all of my experiences
in my little life, this was freaking terrifying. Unfortunately, the location I
was at would not allow video or cameras so I wasn’t able to capture this. However, when going through my phone to pull
old pictures for this blog post, I came across several I had saved from www.behance.net to share with Blake, my
family, and friends leading up to my big adventure. The picture of the student badge, of course
the one with me in it, and the rig photo are all mine. Yet the middle four incredible
photos are from Behance which paints the picture quite well.
To make a very long story short, you and about three other
people get inside a helicopter simulation in a deep indoor pool,
which functions as a practice model in case you ever had to escape from a helicopter
crash. Although we
had a trainer and scuba divers in the pool with us to “rescue” anyone who was underwater for too long, it was incredibly nerve-wracking. The participants had to complete 5 phases successfully. Of course, as you go through
these phases, it gets more and more difficult. Initially your main goal is just
being able to punch out the window and it goes on from there.
Phase One: Helicopter almost submerges, punch the
window out, and unbuckle seat belt
Phase Two: Helicopter goes under water, sit for 7
seconds, punch the window out, unbuckle seat belt, and swim through window to
water’s surface
Phase Three: Switch to new seat and use different
type of seat belt (new method to open, compared to the first.) Helicopter goes under water, flips
upside down, punch the window out, unbuckle seat belt, and swim through window
to water’s surface
Phase Four: Stay in new seat with new seat belt. Helicopter
goes under water, flips upside down, sit for 7 seconds, punch the window out,
unbuckle seat belt, and swim through window to water’s surface
Phase Five: Switch to a new seat again—seat belt will
be one of the two types you have already tried.
Helicopter goes under water, flips upside down, sit for 7 seconds, punch
out window, swim diagonally across the other people (I know, at this point it's comical, right?) and swim out of teammates
window (assuming they got it open in the first place ha!)
If you messed up any of these phases you had to re-do it
until successful to move onto the next tier. I did mess up (for lack of better words) the
final tier and had to complete it a second time. Mess up meaning I had to be “rescued.” I became extremely disoriented when trying to
do the diagonal switch and lost all track of what was in front of me, up, or
down. To this day, I’m still not sure how I found my
way but there was this teeny tiny amount of space/air between the flipped
helicopter and the water’s surface. You had
to tilt your head pretty far back to be able to gasp the air while still in
there, but it was possible. I didn’t
even know that was possible until I was in the moment and found myself breathing
there all of a sudden. Then, one of the
scuba divers got me out and it was time for my re-do. “Oh yay, I get to jump into the torture machine again!” J
Punching that window out alone was difficult as you had to
position your arm/elbow a very specific way and apply a lot of pressure up
against the water to get out. So, you can
imagine the amount of anxiety that comes into the picture when you flip the
thing upside down (leaving you feeling completely disoriented and not aware of
what was up or down,) “holding” for 7 seconds before you move….and the list
goes on. The water was not clear at all
so even if you opened your eyes under the water, you couldn’t see which way you
were going. If you unlock your seat belt
before popping out the door, you will float away and need someone to pull you
out. The windows were oh so tiny and
everyone was bruising up their hip bones trying to swim out so fast. My lung capacity must not be the best as I
was gasping for air by the time those 7 seconds were up. Knowing I still had all those steps to get to
the air was overwhelming to say the least.
As you can see, I have a LOT to say about one course and not
much to say about the others as there is just no comparison. The others mentioned previously are not very note-worthy
but anyone who successfully completed the Offshore Water Survival/HUET (all of
the amazing people who work offshore) are champions in my eyes.
Had I known exactly what I was signing up for, I don’t know
if I would have gone through with it. I’ll
be forever grateful for the experience –it pushed me to my limits. After
completing the courses, I was able to visit two rigs and stay overnight. For my first, we had to get there by boat
(and then ride the basket up to the rig which was similar to a fun roller
coaster ride or something.) For my
second, I finally got to ride the helicopter over the water and land on the
rig.
Being able to see the offshore team in their
element is really quite an experience, bringing me a whole new appreciation for the
lifestyle they lead and the work they do.
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