Diginagain
Or perhaps you were referring to some other species of offshore employees, Buitenzorg?
Yes, indeed. I fly in the Western Hemisphere, day VFR only, and personnel go out in the morning and return in the afternoon.
Zebedee
SOME of the people you carry have so many 'smarts' it would make your eyes water if only you were able to understand what their qualifications mean.
Indeed. I used to be one of them. MSc Geophysics, oil exploration seismologist for 9 years. But let’s be realistic… people with high qualifications aren’t the ones complaining to a union are they? The highly qualified people I’ve carried have directed their questions at me, and been satisfied with my answers. The ones doing the complaining have, for the most part, only learned to write their names after starting work, so they were able to sign in. High school graduates are the minority. This is the literal truth.
SOME of the people you carry have to make decisons that could, if they get it wrong, kill LOADS of people and cause A LOT of environmental damage.
No $hit Sherlock. That’s why on average once a week I have to be the first to call in yet another rig oil leak everyone on the rigs seem to have missed. Again, the literal truth.
YOUR OPINION is irrelevant.
Regulations as well as common sense would seem to disagree with you here. On board my aircraft I’m classified as Pilot-in-Command, which makes my opinion the MOST relevant of all.
Since coming to work here the complaints leveled at me have been about
:
- dropping a passenger (in order not to exceed MTOW);
- dropping a passenger (to keep the CG witin limits);
- declining to carry Dangerous Goods (flammable and radio-active);
- delaying a flight because of bad weather;
- declining yet another (the seventh) unannounced sector because of low fuel.
NO complaints however were made because of perceived safety infractions. In other words, I have to battle these people in order to keep
them safe.
In one case somebody complained directly to the Director General of the local aviation authority because I turned around for more fuel after the rig supervisors added more flights to their flight request while I was in flight – more than two months after the flight took place!
Of course I would have liked to explain the circumstances causing my decisions to the personnel involved, but at the time I’m in the cockpit with engines running, and after landing they’re in their cars and gone before the engine cool-down is half over. Days later I get to hear about complaints made to an engineer or ramp attendant. Fantastic displays of common sense, integrity and, yes, intelligence too, wouldn’t you say?
Edited to add:
The term “rig pig” originates in the GOM (not where I fly), and for years I too felt this was excessively derogatory, beyond banter somehow. But that was before having people threaten my livelihood because I refused to compromise
their personal safety. I really hope that, as diginagain indicated, the breed of offshore workers in the North Sea is a different one, I wouldn’t wish this hassle on anyone.
So why stay? Well, my (aviation) company have treated me very fairly, if it ever came to a head they’d back me up, the machines are safe, the weather’s good and the beer is cold. Plenty more reasons to stay than leave.