Safety issues in the GOM???
Well now...there is a Tar Baby if ever there was one!
The Bobby Suggs School of Helicopter Management probably has a core belief that says something about "If the FAA will approve Monkeys flying....it will save on personnel costs. If Bobby could have gotten away with having Monkey's flying and only have to buy Banana's in bulk.....he probably would have invested in agricultural real estate in Nicauraga and Haiti.
The oil company minimum standards drive the hiring standards in the oil patch. The Bobby Suggs concept of pilot recruiting in the gutters of the French Quarters has been overtaken by events....dem gutters be empty of pilots ya know....one hurricane too many and the floods washed away all de garbge.
The American helicopter industry faces a crisis...there is a pilot shortage and the industry hasn't caught on yet. They have a turnover rate in the Gulf that runs about 30 percent per year. At some point....the well runs dry....only so many pilots get out of the military in a year...only so many will come back for a second go at the GOM...and after that....seats go empty and working GOM pilots have to workover...go without vacations....and funny enough, attitudes get bad....and.....turnover goes up.
The cure for the problem is in retention...and some creative approaches to training folks in-house. Bristow did that during the heyday of the North Sea and had good success at it. The American helicopter industry has got to change....there is no other option.
Using younger, more in-experienced pilots in two pilot crews makes sense. It provides the new pilot with an experienced mentor who can guide the young one along the path of rightousness until they are fully prepared to go it alone in a single pilot machine.
The Pilot unions and oil companies need to join in that effort....it is in everyone's best interest to do so. Helicopters right now are the biggest killers in the GOM....not a record that I think the industry can ignore or elude. Evolving into larger crew served IFR aircraft will foster better safety and provide a means to bring along a new generation of pilots.
Until we can get past the "old" way of doing business in the American Helicopter industry....I doubt much positive change will occur. The FAA, NTSB, pilot groups and other interested parties are promising to reduce helicopter accidents by 80 percent....this could and should be an intergral part of that process.
Just one guy's view of things.....garnered over about forty years of flying helicopters.