S76,
Harmattan is not the same as night - after all it's still day and there is some light so another winch-fitted aircraft (are there any still in Nigeria) could, in theory rescue you, or find you visually if you have a homer signal.
Troglodita,
I see you say that you operate only to rigs close to shore for CNL, so I guess you're based at Escravos where your points are valid. However in Port Harcourt most of our rigs are much further out and are reached after extensive flights over Ijaw lands, in some of the most militant part of the Delta. I have to admit that it's always something in the back of my mind when I have to do night recency. How do the guys in Lagos manage? The closest rig there must be a really long way offshore with long distances where it's not practicable to provide rescue coverage. I'd feel pretty uncomfortable about that too.
I had heard that part of the Agbami contract was to provide day/night helicopter SAR coverage and it looks like Bristow has got that contract. Is the S92 going to be a full SAR-capable machine with autohover and will the crews be trained in day/night SAR? I think that it's obvious the oil companies are not going to stop having a requirement for night SAR and that the Nigerian government is incapable of providing one in a million years. If the oil companies want night emergency cover, all those that want it should club together and fund adequate night SAR coverage, including provision of suitably equipped helicopters and trained specialist crews. If they're not prepared to do that, they should be told that night coverage is not available in Nigeria. Night flying in helicopters in Nigeria is illegal except emergency training and life or death medevac flights, so maybe the government should step in and make the oil companies pay for adequate coverage (since we all know the Nigerian won't do so itself and even if it did, how many of us would feel safe and sound in the knowledge that NEMA would really 'be there' for us ina couple of Mil 8s or whatever
)
I agree with your comments about simulators being very limited for any offshore training by day or by night, but again, if enough $$$$ were thrown at that problem, in the 21st century it shouldn't be insoluble. Aero has a very good little simulator in PH now (albeit with no movement) but the visuals for rig approaches are far superior to most of the expensive level D full-motion simulators on the market, so it should be possible to upgrade a level D.
Interesting topic BBO. Does this mean the blood pressure pills have started working or just that you're happy with your new job
?