Austin and Helicopter Crashes
Morning all!Well, Terminal 5 opened today at Heathrow. That went well didn't it? Hopefully they'll get it sorted before the Houston flights move there from Gatwick at the end of April.
Anyway, I went to do my HUET training in Lafayette, Louisiana a couple of weeks ago. HUET stands for Helicopter Underwater Egress Training. This is mandatory training for all those who travel offshore in helicopters, and was a lot of fun!
Because helicopters are nasty things that shouldn't really fly if you actually sat down and worked it all out, they have a tendancy to crash all over the place. When flying over water, they tend to dump you in the drink upside down, because some engineer thought it would be a great idea to stick the engines on top, thereby making them float upside down pretty well. This is just one reason you should always be deeply suspicious of engineers.
I drove the 3 and a bit hours east along I-10 to Lafayette, and stayed overnight in a very 1980's Hilton. The morning saw me in class for a couple of hours, getting a skim through different types of helicopter, how to jump off oil rigs, why you shouldn't work in the North Sea and other exciting and deeply reassuring things.
After a relaxing, and not at all nervous lunch, we changed and went to the pool, where we were duly strapped into a mockup of a helicopter fusalage, and dumped upside down into the water. If you got out, you passed.
Well, actually, it was a bit more gradual than that. We climbed in, and whilst the helicopter was held a couple of feet above the water we were told and shown how to jettison the doors and windows. The helicopter was lowered into the pool, and we had to unbuckle, and swim out of the openings - a piece of cake.
The next run saw us dropping in with the doors and windows in place. The idea was to wait until the inrush of water had stopped, remembering to take a breath before it came over your head, jettison the door, keep one hand on the exit and unbuckle with the other before swimming clear.
The next run was fun. In we went, but immediately rolled upside down. Water was pouring in - remember to take a breath - feel for the door latch - where is it where is it - it's by my knee it's by my knee - pull, hand on exit, unbuckle and swim clear... Phew! It sounds simple, and really is, but it's amazing how disoriented you get when underwater and upside down and strapped in. You know really thet the door latch is still by your knee, but your mind tells you that for some reason it is now moved, just because you're upside down... Here's the place we did it, if you'd like photos!
Following this run we did some more, but this time you had to wait (still strapped in and upside down) while the person next to you jetissoned the window and exited before following them. The window just pushed out with a good shove - but it only works if you're strapped in. If you do what I did and try to open the window after unbuckling yourself, you simply push yourself away from the window as there is not much to brace against.
After the drowning, we spent the rest of the afternoon floating around in the pool, inflating life rafts and jackets, learning how to climb in them, making floatation devices from your overalls and all manner of interesting things.
The water in the Gulf of Mexico is nice and warm (~80 deg F year round) so you stand a great chance of survival if you get out of the burning twisted pile of helicopter that's just screamed into the sea at a million miles per hour.
Anyway, on to more benign stuff...
Went over to Austin with some freinds a week or two later. Had a nice time in the Sunny weather doing a little wondering about Hamilton Pool, just outside Austin where there is a nice green natural pool in the limestone which is a good place to swim in the summer. Just took some pictures this time though, and spent a while trying to photograph turtles, but always just got a little too close causing them to plop into the pools.
It was very nice to get that feeling that summer is around the corner, with the Hill Country spring breeze, pleasant temperatures, blue sky and fresh smell - perfect.
posted by Sam @ 20:57
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