Inuvik (Sep 11/06) - Inuvik's Penny Rogers reached her hand through where the window would have been and gripped the helicopter for dear life as she prepared to hit the water.

"Are you ready?" Tom Ireland's voice rang through her flight helmet and into her thoughts as she breathed deeply.

Penny Rogers, from Inuvik, is encouraged by Bob Ireland, right, as she prepares to be dunked in the pool at the Inuvik Family Centre. She was one of several workers who took part in a course that taught them to escape a helicopter crash in the water. - Philippe Morin/NNSL photo

"Three-two-one... here we go."

Then with a quick flip and a splash, Rogers is hanging up-side-down more resembling a wet coat in a washing machine than a student learning to fly a helicopter.

She was one several would-be pilots, who joined with a group of oil and gas workers, to take a turn in the crash simulation Aug. 30.

The class was put on by Nova Scotia-based Helicopter Survival Rescue Services to teach participants how to survive a helicopter crash in the water.

They used a mock helicopter cockpit that was spun into the relatively warm water of the Inuvik Family Centre pool.

Ireland, the course instructor, has spent more than 20 years as a search and rescue technician in both civilian and military posts.

In the event of a water crash there's a lot to deal with, he said.

"People who take this course will survive," he said.

Ireland said it was particularly important for trainees to learn how to swim wearing heavy gear - flight suits and helmets - to better mimic a real crash situation.

"That was scary," said Rogers, as she emerged from the water.

She managed to escape pretty well, but said she started coughing on one attempt as she cleared the helicopter.

Another person attending the workshop was Robert Joss, a safety supervisor and office manager for Inuvik's AkitaEqutak Drilling.

"I wanted to do it, but they wouldn't let me," Joss joked, as another student was loaded into the mock helicopter and flipped upside-down.

"I must admit, it kind of looks like fun."

He said 23 of the company's workers were being trained in "helicopter egress" - a nice way of saying "get the heck out before you die in the Beaufort Sea" - ahead of travelling to the Kulluk off-shore exploration rig.

The Canadian-made rig is currently stationed in McKinley Bay, 80 km east of Tuktoyaktuk, and is now being refurbished for a new life in Alaska.

The Kulluk has sat stagnant for the past 13 years but was purchased in 2005 by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, for an undisclosed sum, believed to be more than $50 million.

Workers from AkitaEqutak Drilling, Arctic Oil and Gas and Dowlands Contracting are now refurbishing the rig, so it can be moved to Alaska in July 2007 and pressed back into service.

"It's going to take some work to get it going," said Steve McCasland, of Shell Oil.

Built in 1982, the Kulluk was originally owned by Gulf.

Jim Guthrie, general manager of Kulluk Arctic Services and manager of Gulf in Tuktoyaktuk at the time of the rig's operation, said the unit was parked when oil prices dropped in the mid-1980s.

"This rig was built specifically for Arctic drilling," he said. "Consequently, it is very expensive and not suited for deeper waters."

Guthrie added Kulluk means thunder in Inuvialuktun.