Training for the North Sea
Aberdeen is the busy hub of the UK's North Sea oil and gas industry. That much is clear within about 30s of landing at the airport when you become immediately aware of the enormous amount of rotorcraft traffic ferrying workers to and from the rigs. It is, as the late author Iain Banks says of the place, "very helicoptery".
Bond Offshore Helicopters, Bristow Helicopters and CHC Scotia make up the trinity of offshore operators working from the Scottish site. Governed partly by their relative size and corporate parentage, each has adopted a slightly different means of recruiting and training pilots.
The largest of the trio is Bristow, part of Texas-headquartered Bristow Group, but with operations across the globe. Due to its scale, it has taken a more in-house approach to its recruitment and training needs. A key part of this is its own training operation, Bristow Academy, based in Titusville, Florida. Acquired in the early part of the last decade, the division provides ab initio training for self-funded would-be pilots.
Whereas Bristow previously had a training facility at Redhill in southern England dedicated to producing helicopter pilots for its North Sea operations, Titusville simply turns out qualified pilots, although relevant training can be provided for those seeking a career in offshore work. And the highest performing graduates are asked to stay on as instructors, Bristow looks to recruit them into the offshore business, first ensuring they are instrument rules qualified. In all, Academy recruits make up some 30% of the intake in Aberdeen, says Rhodes, with that figure varying between 50% in Norway and 25% in its Nigerian business.
This surge in oil exploration - driven by both the high price of crude and technological advances that have enabled access to previously uneconomical reserves - has meant that the offshore workforce has hit record levels. And that could rise further as oil companies undertake previously postponed remedial work on rigs, expansion of existing fields and new exploration. Bristow's pool of Aberdeen-based pilots has seen similar expansion, rising from 70 to 150 over the last 18 months.
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