Dear Chopperpunter,
From your comments in your posts on this thread I see that the oil companies have suceeded in putting all the blame on the helicopter operators. I think you would see things very different if you would know how things are run in reality.
You are complaining about poor service in the last couple of years lack of pilots, aircraft, break downs .....! The lack of pilots in 2001 was a direct result of the oil companies telling the operators that the amount of flying was going to go down when in fact it went up. It takes quite a considerable amount of time for a pilot to be trained so there was a time in 2001 when we did not have enough pilots but this is not the case for 2002 - plenty of pilots now.
The amount of aircraft for a particular contract is the decision of the oil company - so if your company is only paying for 2 aircraft - thats what you will get!!!
There are and always will be aircraft unserviceabilities. There is not much an operator can do about this apart from servicing the aircraft in accordance with the instructions laid out by the manufacturer. Interestingly an investment in new aircraft does not really improve this much since new aircraft are actually more prone to break down then the older ones.
If a punter is bumped of a seat on a flight because of payload problems this has nothing to do with the company, the pilots or anyone else in the company! This is purely to allow us to get enough fuel into the helicopter to bring you guys safely ashore!!!! If thats a problem then they can bu**er off and take a swim! And actually since you have mentioned Scoda - aehh Scotia - they are the only operator here in Aberdeen with the new Super Puma Mk2 for commercial flights wich can take about 500 kg extra!!!
Since you have mentioned basket tranfer from a boat to a platform - have you thought about how long it will take a ship from Aberdeen to the East Shetland basin???? I don't think that any of the workers would put up with this!!!
And here is another thought for you: We as crews only plan flights and tell the oil companies how much payload we can take on a particular flight. It is entirely up to them to decide if the flight is going ahead and who the punters are. Often they cancel a flight because of their own commercial reasons and leave it for the next day......
So as you can see it's not as easy as you think and just putting all your travel problems down to a crap operator is not really justified.
And by the way - thanks for safely flying you guys out there and back day in day out in crap conditions all year round - we do appreciate your gratitude!!!!!!!!!
Woolf