Allison Rumbolt

My day usually starts about an hour prior to departure, with daily flight inspections, personal offshore survival suit inspections, and weather and sea state checks along with a discussion on the day’s events with the captain. As a crew we then get briefed by dispatch on the details of our flight plan. This will include weather for all phases of flight, information about the ship or oil rig we will be landing on, number of passengers we will have onboard and amount of fuel that we will require.

During the flight there could be a change in plans due to weather forcing us to change altitudes or a customer request. This may require changes to be made to the flight plan, additional fuel taken from a ship/rig or even a shutdown offshore. We swap rolls and crews for every other flight we fly, so each and every member of our team is comfortable with the task at hand. From landing on a moving ship, flying precision approach to runways or being able to complete the paperwork that contains valuable information regarding fuel checks, weather updates, and commutation with air traffic control and ship or rig operators. At the end of each day the aircraft requires engine rinses due to the amount of salt water we encounter offshore and paperwork to be completed.

STEM is very important in my daily activities as we use math to be aware of the weight we can carry in relation to the amount of fuel required and burned. We use science to study the weather for the planned flight route and to ensure the safety of our passengers. Part of our daily activity involves the use of technology to program our GPS for our flight route and to set up approaches to airports and rigs. The helicopters that we fly are automated, which means they are driven by computers with programing inputs from the pilots. We start and finish our day by logging into our crew support and updating our flight logs, duty days, and checking updates and information on aircrafts and regulations.