Since I appear to be doomed to update my rules & reference for #TheThing: The Boardgame for all eternity, here's v2.6, which clarifies the procedure for escaping by helicopter.
It's very exciting to see one of my favourite films of all time, John Carpenter's The Thing, get the deluxe board game treatment. And almost every beat from the film has been faithfully reproduced in this excellent game - though you're going to have to assimilate a lot of rules as a result.