Original air date: March 9th, 2025

We recently took you, via helicopter, to an oil rig, 140 miles out into the Gulf of America, to report on the energy industry on the move. Today, we thought you might like to see a bit of the worst-case-scenario survival training the rig workers had to pass, and so did Scott Thuman and our Full Measure crew.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

For hundreds of workers harnessing America’s offshore energy, the commute to work is a little different, and not for the faint of heart.

So, before this 90-minute helicopter ride to see a new Chevron platform called “Anchor” in the renamed Gulf of America, we had to first prove, like all who go here, that in a worst-case scenario, like a crash, we could survive.

At a unique school called Rely-On Nutec near Houston Texas, they teach us using this imposing simulator what to do if our helicopter crashes in the gulf, and due to the weight of the rotor, flips. Unusual but not unheard of.

In just seconds, the cabin fills, we take a breath, knock out a window, unbuckle our seat belts and swim free.

Oh, and then do it all over again upside down. It’s all disorienting, if not also, a bit daunting.

With repetition though, comes confidence, and eventually, some calm amidst all that rushing water.

And at the end of the day we leave with new skills that we hope never to have to use.

For Full Measure, I’m Scott Thuman in Houston, Texas.

Watch video here.