PPF1 says:
People think that the GOM is a place for barely qualified pilots go to build time while waiting for that real job. Not true at all.
You are very right; yet, every day it is happening in the Gulf. Years ago I had heard a story about a pilot that had gotten lost while going from one platform to the next. The story went that, with a load in a 206B, he would fly one way for a few minutes and then turn and go another. He was in the High Island area where there are not many platfroms and although the day was fairly clear the visibility was "not good". For some time he flew in full contact with company flight following at times nearly crying that he was lost and he thought he should just land in the water. Finally, he did spot a platform and landed, nearly out of gas.
Well, a foreman and I were on a long flight into the same area from the East Cameron blocks when this story came up. (When flying the little birds in the GOM the guy with the biggest check gets to sit up front with the pilot.) It seems that this foreman was sitting up front on the day this happened. He said that the pilot paniced and began flying around like he was crazy. The pilot was told several times to just turn toward the beach but could not be convinced that that would help. Eventually they did find a platform, landed, spent the night there, and got out of there the next morning when the company brought more fuel and pilot.
The GOM is unique in many ways as PPF1 has shone. Yet, what is needed is not more regulation but the whole list PPF1 wrote would be just fine.
Barryb