Owen Shannon
Apologies for a long first post.
With the development of technology, the situational awareness skills requiring heading, time and distance to enable 12 – 15 deck landings on a production run without the use of GPS or equivalent, appear to have gone.Takeoff briefings including, example “right turn to 120 degrees, Market Alpha 9 miles/5 minutes “, etc., don’t appear to be even given a thought.It’s all done for you as one of you suggested. Even long hauls from shore appear to lose the focus required such as may be the case here. And I agree with one post that suggest most WRLs occur in visual conditions.
We’ve all seen the attempts by both operators and companies to prevent WRLs, including flashing lights, name placards, HLO ‘have you in sight’ calls, cockpit procedures, etc.Huge amounts of money have been spent implementing these or reviewing SOPs.
Having several thousand helideck landings under my belt can I appeal to those of you keen to see improvements, for your comments re the following KISS method of helping prevent reoccurrences. It follows the lines of a couple of suggestions - John Eacott (long time John), Obnox, Helicom. It is also based on the principal of noticing something out of the norm on the decks... e.g., a towel, sunbathers (years ago), a straw hat, deck colour, etc.
During a WRL investigation I conducted (and I’ve investigated several) I ‘employed’ a team of highly professional, high time offshore pilots, to advise on my findings and recommendations.From one of these lads came an idea we all thought had merit, so much so in fact that we recommended the subject company take the lead in recommending the same to the industry.
The resultant suggestion was cheap to implement but would need the ‘buy-in’ of the oil companies, and goodness knows, as already suggested, it’s in their interest to do their part in WRL prevention.It appears (from this discussion) that any follow-up done by the subject company has not eventuated.
Every Helideck should have in their ‘crash box’ or some other storage area, a ‘Prohibited Landing’ marker… you know, the 4 meter square signal red panel with the yellow cross that is meant to cover the ‘H’ inside the TD/PM.We all know that these are scarcely used as they are ‘really’ for ‘certain operational or technical reasons an installation may wish to prevent helicopter operations’. Mmmmm, wouldn’t preventing a non-scheduled helicopter from landing meet this criteria?
Leaving these on a helideck when a helicopter is not expected may rot them away pretty quickly in the South East Asian heat and other locations (if a North Sea equivalent wind doesn’t dispatch them sooner) and they could present a hazard should a helicopter have no alternative but to make an emergency landing, as unlikely as that may seem.
Most installations have amongst their equipment, webbed straps of the ratchet tightening variation. With any luck they may have ones that are 3 or 4 (or more) inches wide (wider the better, 4” might be a minimum) and of an appropriate length that two of these could be fastened over the net, over the ‘H’ in the form of a cross in less than a minute. If they are not on board, they retail at less than $200 (size dependent) and could be obtained within a few days. Of course the authorities may wish to standardize such devises and fair enough however if they could keep the KISS principle in mind there is a chance a WRL prevention initiative could move ahead. A simple description of how they should be fastened (diagonally across the bisector of the H might work) and secured to appropriate existing fasteners. The inner ring of helicopter tie down points might be a good place to start. The suggestion is that these be installed by the helideck crew as soon as a helicopter leaves and removed before (just when to be determined) a scheduled helicopter arrives.
Would they be visible before the ‘committed’ or ‘landing’ call is made? Most likely (tests would tell) ... they’d be a lot easier to see than the deck name from certain approach angles. And how many times has the name on a placard been read but not registered as the wrong platform… it has happened. Trials would soon show the appropriate size but anything to begin with would be acceptable, any colour contrasting with the net included (Yellow, or red being initial preferences). The ‘H’ is one of the focal points during such landings and there’s a good chance they would be noticed and understood by our professional colleagues (who understand the meaning of a cross near or on any landing surface).
This could replace the ‘last barrier’ (name of the installation). I'd appreciate you comments.