H.U.E.T.

Helicopter Underwater Escape Training is required for working offshore in almost every area of the world. Transportation of crews to and from offshore oil rigs is almost exclusively done by helicopter and they do sometimes have to ditch in very rough seas, so the danger is real and the training necessary. I've attended periodic training sessions in Scotland, Canada, Singapore, Nigeria and Abu Dhabi and I'm here to tell you that going to "school" is a real learning experience.

H.U.E.T isn't the only required training to work offshore, but it is probably one of the scarier elements of a rigger's survival skills. My first session was in Aberdeen, Scotland where we went to a swimming pool equipped with an overhead crane and an old helicopter shell had been modified to accommodate the different steps in the training. I think we had 4 students inside the helicopter shell plus 2 scuba divers inside and 2 scuba divers outside to make sure nothing went wrong. This particular model had windows and doors that had to be removed to exit, but it was not watertight, so that it would fill in with water rapidly while you sat seat belted in and the helicopter submerged. The first time you are slowly lowered into the water, you wait for the water to go above your head (windows and doors won't open underwater until the pressure is equalized) and then you could exit. The second time you perform the exercise they drop you in the water faster to more accurately simulate a helicopter ditching or crash. The third time they would drop the helicopter and then flip it over so that you were upside down in your harness and underwater. It's that additional element of disorientation which really makes it fun.

In the North Sea and the North Atlantic you have the additional concerns that the seas might be rough and visibility poor, so it would be difficult for rescuers to find you and then to rescue you. The water would be very cold and hypothermia could kill you pretty fast if you weren't also wearing a survival suit (which was always required dress in these areas) and we learned to deploy radio beacons and a small liferaft to assist our own discovery and health. In these areas many oil rigger's had either a military background or commercial fishing experience, so they were familiar with the conditions and the training. On the other hand many commercial fishermen did not know how to swim. This might not make sense to us landlubbers, but you try and swim in water around 45 degrees and see how far you get. To a fisherman in these conditions it was probably better to die of hypothermia then to drown.

Training in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada was much like that in Aberdeen and the crews a little more home grown and homogenous. We also used a frame with seats simulator instead of an actual helicopter fuselage to do the training. Someone must have figured out that if you could sit underwater upside down for 30 seconds and bring up lifesaving equipment with you, you probably didn't need the added inconvenience of actually having to open a door or break out a window. There was the bright idea of adding waves to the pool and training in how to be winched up by a rescue chopper, but realism is the often the key.

In the other training locations I had become increasingly more adept or at least much less fearful of spending time upside down under water, but it wasn't so easy for people who don't know how to swim. In fact it is terrifying. Still I had to hand it to everyone who wanted to keep their job, fear or not, they'd do it. In Abu Dhabi our instructors were mostly Iraqi, but it is never a good sign if your students die in survival school, so they took care of us all equally. In Nigeria a lot of time was spent helping people to learn how to swim or at least be comfortable in the water with a lifejacket.

I did once have to exit a helicopter that landed upright on the surface of the water (after a few tense moments of aerial acrobatics) but the floatation kept us above water and stable and everyone (except maybe the pilots) were uninjured and rescued swiftly. If you notice you are alive after any traumatic event it is always in your best interest to move to safety and get help as quick as possible. That's my motto.

(by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist)