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Rachel Howie
 Hello, my name is Rachel Howie; I am one of four junior Aircraft Engineering Technicians on board HMS Endurance.
My job is to look after the 2 helicopters that we have onboard. We have to service them before and after they fly and also carry out routine maintenance or fix them if they break. I mainly look after 434 along with AET Bennett. AET Bradley and AET Lenthall both look after 435.
A normal day for me would mean getting up at 0630 as I start work at 0730. I get into the hangar with enough time to spare for a cup of tea before I start the before flight servicing on 434. We usually start flying at 0900 and finish around 2000 although occasionally it carries on late into the evening; this all depends on weather conditions and daily tasking.
We have many different tasks onboard so every day can be different. We mainly move the BAS teams and their kit to and from different locations around Antarctica and South Georgia. This is hard work as it usually involves putting a lot of heavy bags and boxes in and out of the aircraft. We also fly some of the ship’s company around to different locations so that they can carry out survey work.
Lynx aircraft conducting filming from the `Frozen Planet’ from the Gyron camera
We also have a lot of tasking that involves photography and filming. We have different cameras that we can fit to the side of the helo: we use two for photographing the coastlines for UKHO and we help the BBC by fitting their Gyron camera to film wildlife from the air, like whales and penguins, for the Planet Earth television series. We also recently helped a BAS scientist carry out a fur seal survey in South Georgia, which was something different as well as being a bit of a challenge.
I finish working at 1200 when the other watch take over and then I have the afternoon off until I have to go back to work at 1900. I like to make the most of my off watch time by using the ships well-equipped gym followed by a relaxing sauna afterwards. The rest of my spare time would then be spent reading books, watching films, writing e-mails or letters home and just enjoying the peace and quiet before another busy night at work.
Rachel at work
I usually get back to work in time for the last hour of flying, unless the BBC want to film later. They sometimes like to film just before the sun sets, which is pretty late down here!
434 at sunset
Once flying has finished we get the helos back inside the hangar and begin a long night of servicing, the more hours they fly the more work we have to do on them that night. On a good night I will finish work between 2300 and midnight and on a busier night I would finish anytime as late as 0400 the next morning. It’s ok though because I don’t have to be back at work until 1200 and I only work until 1900 that day.
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