Oh dear oh dear the macho idiots are out in force - whose mantra is
"When I was a lad we only had one light to fly on, no instruments, one great pilot - me and it was perfectly safe 'cos I am the best pilot in the world and you guys in the N Sea have it cushy."
And Steve 76 I find your quote
"Not nearly as hard as the landing light approach into Southampton at 2am with only one light and BA as your cojoe ... now that is hazardous!
Set the OBS to the inbound track please and look out for the towers"
very disturbing in that you are willing to place yourself and crew/pax in a known hazardous situation. Why have you not refused to fly in there until they sort out the lighting to give you a non-hazardous approach???
The main reason safety is good in the N sea is because the pilots demand it. The oil companies are interested in profit and will generally only spend on safety if it is cheap to do so or forced on them. The leg lights on the SNS platforms are a case in point - pilot pressure got them installed.
We all have to strive for a safer environment in which to fly. Remember we choose to fly the guy/girl in the back has to provide an income for their family and some of them are scared witless by flying but still do it. It is therefore incumbent on us to provide them with the safest possible means of getting to work with the minimum risk. This is what the airlines do as many Ops Manuals state that the a/c is to be flown in the automatic mode rather than hand flown as it is "safer".
Commercial flying is not for fun and to prove how great we are it is to get the pax safely to their destination. If you want to prove how great you are, then go off and fly for pleasure.
I am all for every possible aid to safe night flying and will always strive to get the oil companies to provide it.
332M