.... I'm so excited!
Just hope my ass fits thru the window.... Hmmnn....
I'm doing it cos I'm going to work on Barrow Island some time soon. Apparently they chopper you out there. I was pretty excited about that, I envisioned a tropical paradise, untill I looked it up on the net. Doesn't look that tropical or paradisic. Oh well, it will keep me busy till I go to work offshore.
Helicopter Underwater Escape Training
The
Helicopter Underwater Escape Training course (
AKA the HUET), is known throughout the
offshore industry as either a day off work spent by the pool, or an
opportunity for
sadistic employers to attempt to
drown their thankless
staff by strapping them into a metal can and
plunging them upside down into two meters of water.
Government regulations and
Health,
Safety, and the
Environment (
HSE) departments, mean that most companies will require their
staff to undertake a HUET before they can take the
chopper ride out to an
offshore platform or
vessel. There are
exceptions to this, most notably if you are expected to take only one single journey in a year -- or if it's
really important. Most companies will recognise a
valid HUET for one or two years.
The HUET course generally consists of two parts, the helicopter escape and the
SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea), performed in no particular order, over the course of one or two days. Some providers also include a course in basic
fire fighting and escape from a smoke filled room.
Part 1: The HUET
The TheoryWe start with two hours of
theory. You learn about picking your
primary exit and selecting a
secondary exit (in case the guy next to your primary exit weighs
300lbs). You learn how to
brace for
impact and what to do when the
helicopter hits the water. There's demonstrations of how the
door and
window emergency exits work and explanations as to what will likely happen should the
rotor's jesus pin fail. There's generally an
exam to make sure you've not been
asleep, but either way the
practical will
wake you right up.
The PracticeJust how
scary the human
washing machine is, depends a lot on the following points: Are you a
weak swimmer? Are you
claustrophobic? Do you get
disoriented easily? If you answered yes to any of these questions you'll want to wear a
rubber lined
wetsuit. The idea of the HUET is to prepare you for an
unexpected plunge into the
ocean while you're in a
helicopter, so the
practical part of the course attempts to
simulate just that. They construct a mock-up
helicopter with a variety of seating and exit configurations but with the back of the 'helicopter' left open,
just in case. Each training provider will have a different mock-up, from a simple box which instructors
manually manoeuvre, to fully
automatic systems that can control the speed of
rolls as well as any
pitch or
lateral movement.
You start
easy,
suspended above the water you practice your
brace position and pop your nearest exit. The next step is more exciting, you get lowered in to the water slowly (buckled in of course), until you've been fully
submerged for about 5 seconds. Then you find and pop your exit, unbuckle your
harness, and make your escape. So far so good, as long as you are a comfortable swimmer. Now the fun starts. Next dip is an
inversion, essentially a simulation of the
helo landing on, and then rolling in to the
sea. So rather than being
gently lowered in you're rolled under water, so depending on where you're sitting you might be upside down or side-on when your head goes under. Then of course you have to
orient yourself, find and pop your exit, unbuckle your harness, and
escape -- while
holding your breath,
upside down, and
underwater.
To keep things interesting you have to switch seats for each
ditch. After you've experienced the
plunge and
inversion they mix things up by not telling you which it will be, nor which way it will roll. Then they'll 'block' one side of the craft so you have to use your
secondary exit. Then for the
real men you do the inversion, using only your secondary exit,
blindfolded.
If this all sounds like a
dangerous way to spend an afternoon, you may have a point. But living in the century of
litigation means your
safety is well looked after. There are three
scuba divers around the
helicopter at all times, and they're more than willing to yank you out should you get
confused,
panic, or if your
harness gets
stuck.
Part 2: SOLAS
Far less exciting, but possibly even more useful is the SOLAS class. It teaches you how to
survive being stranded at sea until the
rescue chopper arrives to whisk you to
safety. Generally includes
life raft familiarisation, how to keep
warm while in the
water,
survival strokes, entering water from
height, and how to get
winched up into a helicopter.
