Re: Tuna spotting in Guam
Yeah around 1000 hours is enough, don't worry about turbine time, but definitely get some time in the type you are to fly before going. My experience was to get shown my helicopter(which was parked on the helideck of the boat) from about half a mile away. the first time I flew it was was from a moving heli deck!
As far as I'm aware, they are still using C18 engines and OH6 airframes (too many people crash em to use new cool equipment). The C18 is ok for that job, you never really have more than one person aboard. The pay on your first tour won't be much more than about $4000 US/mo.
As for what you are expected to do if the heli breaks...
I had three MR chip lights in two weeks, the third one accompanied by a MR Temp light. It stayed on the deck for two weeks till we could get a replacement. The bottom line is, YOU are in command of the aircraft. The guy in the captains chair doesn't give a F^(£ about you or your helicopter, if he wants you to fly he will expect you to fly, if you don't want to, for whatever reason, then you have to be strong enough to tell him where to go.
My captain never expected me to do anything that I wasn't comfortable with so no probs. The captains are supposed to know the rules and a lot have been doing the job for a long time so they should be aware of what you can do. That said, I know that some of them will try to get you to do ridiculous stuff, it's up to you.