OK children, can we pick up our teddies, put them back in the pram and all go home now?
I too am associated with this operation and am not
the management and their supporters
.
Quite a number of the things alluded to happened before I joined and I can't comment other than to say that they're all rumours I've heard before. However, here are the facts about some of the individuals and events mentioned which have happened since I arrived.
Long before I arrived on the operation it was expected that it would eventually go down to only one helicopter and one fixed wing, on completion of all the work on the trans-Cameroun pipeline. What was not known was the date, how many pilots/engineers would be affected, or who those individuals would be. The management was trying to no avail to persuade the client to keep on one additional helicopter and its contract was extended several times, but it was (I believe) on one month's notice to finish and this was finally given at the end of last year. At that time the so-called
unfair, hard and biased
Chief Pilot asked for volunteers to transfer to other operations within the Schreiner group. He contacted both Holland and Nigeria and also tried to contact the management at CHC (our soon-to-be owners) to see if they had any vacancies and would be able to allow people the opportunity to transfer with no loss of seniority. A number of people volunteered and the process of transferring is underway with one pilot having already started duty in Nigeria. No fixed wing redundancies were necessary because the management managed to secure a new contract for the surplus Twin Otter.
The management in Cameroun is no better and no worse than the management of most of the companies for which I've worked - and considerably better than some. After all to (mis)quote an old philosopher from well before my time, "You can like some of the management all of the time and all of the management some of the time, but you can't like all of the management all of the time"! The nature of most overseas contracts is that the expatriates all work and live together and sometimes this causes problems when managers want to dictate how others can live. Our management and our accommodation in Cameroun allow us to lead our private lives privately.
The operation is manned by experienced and well-qualified professionals and our standards are constantly monitored by a semi-permanent client aviation advisor on-site.
Cameroun is only a small country with a small offshore oil industry and a few helicopters. May we now be allowed to fade quietly back out of the limelight and carry on enjoying our time in this delightful country?
