Aerial view of Galeota Point. And no real space for a running landing with a Tail Rotor problem. Heliport is shown with the red arrow, and the blue arrow was the Trintopec Heliport. Operated by a Canadian Company called Sealand Helicopters, we were threatened with the sack by Redhill Management to avoid any co-operation with Sealand. Craig Dobbin's Sealand Helicopters of course became the father/mother to the 'Canadian Holding Company', Bristow's main rival worldwide from 1987.
All landings at Galeota were planned as deliberate single engine zero speed landings, and with 9Y-TEY parked on Spot 4, an arrival on Spot 1 as here was the least preferred option as it had a very early LDP, no safe go-around like Spots 2 & 3. And we only had PT6-T3s then, 3Bs came later.
Occasionally got visited by the Gazelles & S76s from National Security - Government of Trinidad & Tobago.
The largest platform in the Teak Field (all Amoco fields were named after types of Trinidadian trees). This one had 3 helipads, 1 out of shot to the left, 2nd under the white portacabins & temporary helipad of the workover rig, and 3rd on the gas platform to the right which was only strong enough for the Sealand Longrangers, and they used to park 2 there for lunch sometimes.
Unlike the other fields, the Mora had a single platform and no lit flare, and was some 30nms offshore. So single pilot night landings were interesting here in the rainy season.
Question - Helicopter breaks down offshore on single small helideck and we have no winch on the operation. How do you recover it? Answer - Travel to/from by boat. Approaching one of the Poui's I think to bring back a 212 after it was repaired.
Dave Tye at work fixing the broken 9Y-THH. Yellow tarp over the rear end suggests CBOX or Oil Cooler problems.
Accommodation at Galeota was of a poor standard. Leaking roofs, A/Cs that broke down regularly, contaminated water that came from an oil well as opposed to a water well, and an unreliable electricity supply which went out on average every 32 hrs in my 2 year posting. Back-up generators, when they worked only provided 115 AC, so no A/Cs. This is the Top House, which had the dining area & kitchen. What made the operation work was the excellent food produced by the girls here - still remember Bernie's Rotis and was it Shirley's (?) pizzas.
Across the road and just down a bit was the Bottom House, which had the Bar on the 1st floor which opened out onto a sea view balcony.
Between the crew houses & work we had 2 Bailey bridges. Although a fine piece of British engineering, they were subjected to very harsh corrosive conditions, and regularly overloaded. This is one of 3 failures that occurred in my 2 year posting, with the bridge collapsing under the weight of that crane. Fortunately on each occasion we managed to have 2 company cars on each side of the blockage so transport was not an issue. Another blockage was caused by a local Rastafarian taxi driver who suffered a blow-out mid bridge, and got his taxi wedged between both sides of the bridge. He spent several hours stabbing his taxi with a machete, before being calmed down by the police allowing his taxi to be removed and the road re-opened.