I suppose the reality of what I'd gotten into first hit me before we even left the mainland. We had to go through a helicopter survival course - in case the chopper we're flying out to the Gulf has a mechanical failure and we have to crash land it in the ocean. This training and certificate are compulsory for everyone who flies off shore.

So here we are.... the cameraman, a sound man, 2 producers, me and a safety diver. We all show up in Lousiana, home of crawfish and Mardi Gras. But we're at a training center with a whole lot of other offshore folks who are also getting certified. We all spend the whole day getting dunked in a pool. Almost everyone else in the course has done this before because certification is required every few years - but we're the newbies.

Picture this.... We've just watched a bunch of offshore helicopter crash videos. We've been in the pool about five or six hours. Suited up in a one piece, long-sleeved jumpsuit. Swimming and learning survival techniques. Flipping over and climbing into huge rafts, and a whole lot of other things like trying to open a chopper window underwater - with our eyes closed and our breath held. We're all wrinkled and cold and really ready to go home when we have to survive our last test.

And this one's a beauty: a chopper crash water-landing survival test.

We gather in the deep end, full of mist coming off the water. A mock helicopter cockpit is suspended several feet above the pool. The cockpit fits four. We get strapped into our seats. "Everybody ready?" The guy taking us through the training makes the call: "Ditching! Ditching! Ditching!" Then he starts counting down from five - and the cockpit is dropped into the pool. At "three" the water rises up to the seat, then up your chest. At "one" the whole cockpit is tipped over 180 degrees. Apparently in most emergency water landings choppers flip upside down....

Now we're six feet under, upside down, strapped in, encapsulated by sealed plastic windows. And we have one breath to get out. Chances of survival after the helicopter hits the water become increasingly slim the deeper that the chopper sinks - and it sinks fast! So you'd better be able to feel your way out of the seatbelt and through the window pretty darned quickly. Thankfully there are trained divers sitting just outside the cockpit in case of emergency. But that's small comfort when there's water up your nose, you're feeling freaked out and trying to remember everything you've learned.... and you can't find the latch for the window.

At the end of the day we're all awarded our certificates of completion for Helicopter Underwater Escape Training. We've passed a test which could save our lives - we now have a higher chance of surviving a helicopter crash than if we hadn't been through this crazy simulation! The next day we board our chopper with a new found respect. We joked about going through the mental checklist of escape procedures, but we were all going through them anyway - this was the real deal! Next stop on our "38 ton engine" shoot? 30 miles offshore to the Balder, a Deepwater Construction Vessel that beckons me with the first amazing fix of the series.