Sitting on an unmanned platform, 90 degrees in the shade if there were any shade, not a thing to do but wait for the pumper to waste enough time so he can go back to the quarters without having done a single lick of work all day, can get pretty boring. I've done that more times than I care to think about.
Contract production companies in the GOM hire people to go out there and stay 10 or 14 days, working 12 hours/day, with generally half that much time off, and pay barely above minimum wage. Consequently, they get minimum work from the minimally mentally competent persons they can hire. The days get really long sitting around just killing time in the summer. Flying for a couple of hours across the water into the sun can put you to sleep, too. I wish I had logged all the time I flew asleep in a 206.
The job can get boring sometimes, but at least I'm not up on a roof nailing shingles.
Saying that, are there any astronauts on PPrune?
Maybe, but you can bet the rent money they're not on Rotorheads.
