I hear that a Dauphin has been seen outside the Caverton hangar in Lagos in the last few days, so I guess Uncle Bob made it okay. It looks as if they'll be moving that to Port Harcourt soon as their website is advertising a shuttle service soon to start there. Don't know what sort of response they'll get, but I wish them luck. Has anybody heard if they've recruited any more Dauphin pilots? I would think that they would be in fierce competition with CHC/Aero as they offer a better touring roster.
I also hear that there's trouble afoot in Port Harcourt with the CHC pilots and engineers not being happy with the new salary they're likely to get soon as the CHC take over results in the loss of their old euro salaries. Somebody told me that he thought they may get the same salary in US$ as they now get in euros, plus some kind of benefits package as a sweetener. Any PPRuNers from Aero care to comment? With the probability of Aero trying to take the Shell contract from Bristow after many years, as the Dorniers become unflyable and Shell advertising for tenders to operate the contract, I would think the last thing CHC would want to do is to upset its pilots and engineers. They're short enough of staff now and loss of more could lead to them finding it impossible to crew and operate what they have, let alone being able to take on anything new. A few of their people have already left to join OLOG/Bristow because of the better salary and discontent with the living conditions.