Nick - you are right these are my opinions but do you expect me to portray someone else's opinions? Sikorsky marketing ones by any chance?
I did mention that the bunch of people clamouring for it were not pilots. At least on this side of the Atlantic. Were they engineers? - certainly - and a good few others who were impressed by the presentations and even perhaps the colour of the shiny box it comes in. But these are people who with the best intentions may not understand what the actual issues are. They have never been out over the ocean on a dark night in the driving seat.
Regarding the mobile rigs thing I think you are missing the point. At the moment we have no display of rigs other than radar. What is added by EGPWS is a very alluring picture of the installations. The trouble is that it is only some of them, not all of them. Human nature being what it is, the concern is that this could result in over-reliance on the system for obstacle avoidance, with the result that someone runs into one that "shouldn't be there" according to the EGPWS. ie the very act of fitting it has generated a new hazard.
What I seek is a review of the safety issues involved in the replacement of AVAD by EGPWS for offshore ops, and a fixing of the holes in the algorithms that I know to exist. As I have said before, once that process is complete I will be delighted if the empty space on our 225s gets filled.
Geoffers - commendable post as usual but can I just pick up on one point - you say "Let's try it and then make a judgement based on facts rather than opinions." but here I must disagree. I would not wish to be responsible for fitting the equipment and exposing our pilots to added risk, as the worst case scenario would be "Oops, HC was right, we had a ditching that would have been prevented by AVAD". Surely its better to closely analyse the pros and cons, perhaps make changes to the system, before coming to a decision to fit it or not. Surely this should be the procedure with the fitment of any new piece of equipment, especially when it replaces a long-standing and well regarded piece
HC