Nigerian Expat Outlaw

I'm sure there are plenty of other operators waiting to step in.............. or are there ?

212man,

I'm sure you will be pleased to learn that Brains is once again CTC Bell !! And so the wheel turns full circle. Can you do me a favour and ask Doc to try sending the message he was going to forward to me again ?

NEO

ruma

It would have been another aviation disaster in Brass yesterday when the Red Dauphin helo 'collected' some high tension cable on take-off en route to Port Harcourt. It was evident that the crew were not aware of the strike despite the vibration encountered en route the near 60Nm trip that-'NIL DEFECTS' was written on the tech log as usual. It was the engineer on turn around maintenance that found the almost one meter cable 'glued' to the main rotor blade with some damages to the vertical fenestron. It was a miraclous escape! NCAA officials from the accident investigation department were seen around today in NAF Base on investigation. Later the blue A star flew in the Caverton bigwigs to inspect the helo.
Last two weeks too a helicopter belonging to Aero/CHC was also involved in an accident while on training mission in Bonny.Less than a month ago, it will be recalled that an aeroplane en route to Obudu was declared missing to date. One is still wondering what must have caused the incident.

etienne t boy

Ruma, that sounds interesting! Was that from, the Agip terminal at Brass? I don't remember any cables on the take off path there. From what you say it's amazing they made it back to NAF. Did they have passengers on board for the flight? Is their other blue Dauphin serviceable?

The CHC helicopter damaged in Bonny is still impounded I'm told. CHC are also sending 2 helicopters to other African countries for contracts there, so quite a reduction in their fleet until the EC225s arrive in May.

Steve76

So its true. I missed out on a job with you guys out there today because of a hard landing(?) and the machines not coming online as quickly as expected. Apparently no hiring until September but 80 pilots for next year. Back to the bush...

inputshaft

Steve,
Stay close to your phone.
With CHC, a "no hiring until September" can quickly turn into a "Er, can we expect to see you at training next week?"

MamaPut

......... though of course with 2 Dauphins leaving, one for Algeria and one for Angola very soon, they may not need anyone for a while. There are still rumors of CHC rotary pulling out of Nigeria (difficult on fixed wing side of course as most of that is down to Chief Ibru).

Tokunbo

A bit difficult to miss the 9 inch hole at the top of the tail boom and the large piece of multi-strand cable hanging out of the rotor blade I'd have thought. Their Dauphins must normally be incredibly badly balanced if the crew noticed nothing

zalt

Perhaps Caverton crews are naturally badly balanced.

Is it true the 2 365s are heading for Sudan? Surely thats somewhere that makes PH look safe.

ruma

A bristow 412 was shot at Benin river yesterday by millitant on a crew change. The crew manage to land the chopper in Escravos tank farm. Awaiting NCAA for investigation.

SASless

Ruma,

Any specifics....such as shot at and hit...shot at and missed...any holes seen in the aircraft....was the aircraft on the ground or in-flight....any one wounded? What was the damage if any to the aircraft?

More importantly....was there a grand "Glad to be alive!" party?

back9

Yep, a 412 was taking off from the Olero platform, carrying out routine crew change, when fired upon, Helo took a round to the main rotor system, no crew or pax injured during the process, pilots diverted for Escravos and landed safely. Awaiting more info...? Oh and no party....yet!

MamaPut

zalt,

I very much doubt the 365s are heading for Sudan as they pulled out of there last year. Rumor is Angola and Algeria.

The area in Sudan where Schreiner/CHC had their contract was much safer than Nigeria.

the delaminator

Question. How many Helos is CHC (ACN) operating in Nigeria right now? Inquiring minds need to know.

overspeed.abroad

Pretty close to 20 in total ... about 8 x AS365s (mostly N3's), about 8 x S-76 (C+ mainly) and 3 x AW139. Don't have a schedule nearby or I'd be 100% sure - but that is close.

Phone Wind

The level of violence in the Niger Delta is increasing as MEND continues to escalate its efforts to get the trial of Henry Okah conducted in public.

The attack on CNL facilities, during which a Bristow 412 was hit by a bullet, was only one of a series of attacks, including the sabotage of the Shell pipeline between Cawthorne Channel and Bonny.

It has warned employees of companies working in the Delta that the military is not in a position to protect them. This should be made easier with all the weapons they seized from the Joint Task Force (JTF) when they attacked the Dibi and Olero flow stations last Thursday.

The period of relative calm and lack of attacks on expats seems to be finished. All expats should be extra vigilant over the next few weeks.

Tokunbo

Last night the Lonestar Drilling compound on the notorious East West Road in Port Harcourt was subjected to a prolonged assault after the main security gates were blown off with dynamite. The wife of Lonestar's chairman was kidnapped.

Nigerian Expat Outlaw

I hear CHC/ACN have laid off or sent on leave seven pilots ? Is it true and if so why ?

NEO

EC135CAPTAIN

They say that they are the big, but can´t afford losing an aircraft, so they don´t need more people on paid holyday.

Nigerian Expat Outlaw

That's strange. I thought they were undercrewed and had trouble getting all their aircraft in the air every day due insufficient pilots.

NEO

Good Man In Africa

I heard they're stopping new hires from coming too. Weird if there's no problem. Or is this the start of the break up some predicted when they were bought ?