Now I am finally retied for good!
Fly contract then.
When I retired, see above, I walked out of the door, turned around and came back in as a 'Casual Pilot'.
After all those years I had finally been rumbled.
This lasted a year and eventually when I returned to the UK they were hollering down the phone asking me to fly at Aberdeen. This I did for about eighteen months. I was finally released when a jealous chief pilot fired me because he thought I was earning too much money. £300/day as a P2, five days a week. (Plus two pensions)
About a year later I went out to my old overseas operation to find that one of their pilots had done a runner. After a week I was there flying the line, yet again a casual pilot.
Then came the dreaded CAA/EASA 65yr limit.
Go to Oz, there is no age limit there, I was advised, so I did. Twenty eight days later I had an CASA ATPL(MIR) and so I was back at the operation but only permitted to fly the national aircraft. So there I was, being paid by one of the largest helicopter companies in the World but not allowed to fly their aeroplanes.
The work was seasonal but I had an Oz licence. This meant that Bristow (Aus) were interested. So off I went to the Solomon Islands, Karratha and Broome in between the Typhoon season in China.
Finally CAAC insisted that I get a Chinese licence, so I did. I carried on for a further two years before bits of me started wearing out and I finally threw it in.
Apart from some short breaks I flew for Bristow for twenty eight years and thoroughly enjoyed it.