76Fan, I take it that's your age then? Because that's how old you'd have to be to have taught me anything
Bravo and Fareast: C'mon guys, SOP's are an amalgamation of chief pilots thoughts and ideas gleaned from the rest of you coal face workers over years of experience. I have flown a fleet wide AOC for 14yrs and all our SOP's are through communal agreements throughout that fleet. What's more important is that they are revised and reviewed very frequently. For you to say they are SOP's therefore we must obey....is pathetic and shows how immature the industry is in this particular regard.
Secondly, I bet even your SOP's have clause that allows the Captain to extricate himself from said rules in the exigencies of safety. And flying all the way UP and then all the way back DOWN just because you think that the difference between bernoullis at 500' or 100/200' will give you "breathing space" is a fallacy. Does the helo in autopilot care or even know it's at 500' or lower? Of course not, so why climb? Granted, 50' is suicidal, but 100 or 200' dependent on ambient conditions most certainly should NOT be excluded.
[Perhaps the colder temp at 500' will put the fire out
].
IF you gentlemen are old or bold or even both and have been in your industry for many years, shame on you that you have adhered unblinkered to 45yrs worth of SOP's without a second thought or challenge.
Am I really hearing that a wisened old bus driver will diengage brain and climb to 500' because it says so in a BOOK? Get a life guys.
Hummingfrog - A much more enlightening insight to your ops - thank you. I admit to being a little too hasty w.r.t. climbing from low to medium level (based on the OP's comments) now that I understand you are already close to said height from the start. That said, I stand by my comments about
:
IF one is low level to start with, don't leave that level, simply to fight a fire.
[Let's not get into a pi**ing contest over offshore rig driving and real flying now.........]
Flexibility - sorts the men out from the statistics
