What it takes to film offshore wind turbines up close

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi reported on the world of offshore wind power. She traveled to a wind farm off the English coastal town of Grimsby, a once thriving fishing port that is now the largest offshore clean energy hub in the world. 

60 Minutes crews are used to challenging shoots, but this story was unique. They had to complete extensive safety training before they could travel 90 minutes by boat out on the rough waters of the North Sea with a wind turbine technician. 

But it was camera operator Chris Albert who had the toughest assignment. Albert had to undergo helicopter crash survival training, which included being dunked underwater in a helicopter simulator, being flipped upside-down, and learning how to escape from the submerged vehicle. 

“Like most all 60 Minutes cameramen, I’ve filmed in war zones, in Black Hawks, in disasters,” Albert said in the video above. “I’ve flown in the back of aircraft with the door down, done all kinds of stuff like that. The training from these guys was far more intense than going into a war zone and getting potentially shot at while you’re flying around.”

The video above was originally published on October 16, 2022 and was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and Will Croxton. It was edited by Will Croxton.