Ocean Careers

Lt. Julie Helmers
Executive Officer, Pilot, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

For NOAA Corps pilot Lt. Julie Helmers, it was a typical workday-flying a helicopter low over the Pacific Ocean under clear, blue skies. In this instance, Julie was on a NOAA mission to observe dolphins south of San Diego. It was a routine flight until a huge shape emerged near the surface about 20 yards from her chopper. She circled back for a closer look.

"It was big, though not a whale," she said. On closer look, a giant manta ray suddenly exploded out of the water, did a back flip, and came crashing down. "I didn't know they could do that!

Seeing the manta ray's acrobatics on that mission three years ago was yet another item on Julie's list of thrilling and uncommon occurrences that have made her life the stuff of adventure novels.

When Julie first thought about what to do with her life, she never dreamed that a career in the U.S Navy, and later the NOAA Corps, awaited. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she always had a love of the ocean, but also a passion for the arts.

"My parents were wonderful in giving my brother and me an appreciation for music and art," Julie said. "They took us to galleries, musicals, exhibits, and arts and crafts fairs. At six I started playing the clarinet and later the piano and bass clarinet."

Along the way, she developed a talent for painting and sculpting, and had some of her work exhibited in local galleries and published in magazines. But something was missing from her life: adventure.

She began thinking about joining the Navy. She applied and was selected to the United States Naval Academy in 1983, where she became a member of the academy's sailing team.

Soon after graduation, Julie found herself flying a Navy Sea Knight helicopter over hostile waters in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. During one reconnaissance mission, her chopper appeared in the cross-hairs of an Iranian warship.

"We received one warning. I threw all aircraft protocol out the window and high-tailed it out of there!" More hair-raising experiences would follow.

After her tour in the Persian Gulf, she became the first female pilot stationed aboard an amphibious assault ship, and later commanded the flight deck on the USNS Comfort during Operation Uphold Democracy off the coast of Haiti.

But after many accomplishments and accolades, winning a slew of medals and commendations, Julie decided she had gone as far as she could in the Navy.

In 1999, she separated from the Navy and was commissioned in the NOAA Corps. During her first tour, she flew observation missions over the Everglades and coastal mapping projects off the NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan.

In 2003, Julie was assigned to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, where she is the executive officer. She flies marine mammal and emergency oil spill response surveys, and participates in homeland security operations with the U.S. Coast Guard and Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The NOAA Corps has opened up a whole new world for her. On any given day, during one of her survey flights, she will see humpbacks breaching, enormous blue whales migrating and dolphins playing.

"When I think back on all that I have done," Julie said, "the words of Laurence Sterne from his A Sentimental Journey say it all: 'What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this span of life by him who interests his heart in everything.'"