PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Pilots suspended after North Sea helicopter lands on wrong platform
Old 28th Aug 2014, 17:49
  #51 (permalink)  
HeliComparator
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Aberdeen
Age: 67
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JT2 of course there should be some internal inquiry, however it should be kept out of the public eye. By pronouncing to the media "we've suspended the pilots" there is an inevitable implication to the uninitiated that they are solely to blame. "Pilot error". You may think it looks good, but only to the uninitiated. In effect the good name of the crew is, at least temporarily, being sacrificed to make the company look better (or so they think!).

So if it is decided to keep the crew off the roster for a bit, fine but no need to pronounce it. There is no need to keep the crew off the roster for fear of a repeat in this particular case because at this moment they are probably the least likely to land on the wrong rig. There may be a need to keep them off the roster due to the stress and pressure of nearly having brought the world to an end by landing on the wrong rig, but that is a self-fulfilling feature of making such a big deal out of a pretty minor event.

To the initiated the company looks as stupid as my company did when it sacked a guy following a near-collision with the sea (many years ago). I happened to be involved with a meeting between our boss and the client. Our boss's debrief to the client was pretty much along the lines of "he nearly crashed, but we have now sacked him so end of problem". The look on the client's face revealed to me that the "blame the pilot" rather than "find out why" attitude impressed him as little as it did me.
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