Award For Rescue Helicopter Pilot.
5th December 1975.
From The Shetland Times.
The Queen's Award for Gallantry is to be made to Capt.Terence Wolfe-Milner, Bristow Helicopters' chief pilot at Sumburgh. He was in command of the operation which, in a Force 11 northwesterly gale on 5th December last, snatched to safety four men marooned on a drifting oil installation in the North Sea. Mr Philip Keith Johns, who was the winchman of the rescue team, receives the Queen's Commendation.
The four technicians to be rescued had been working on Mobil's Beryl "A" tanker mooring and loading buoy, when it broke away from its location about 100 miles east of Sumburgh and was drifting and tossing in mountainous seas. The movement of the structure made a landing impossible and the position of its loading arm, downwind of the flightdeck, ruled out the normal approach for a helicopter.
"After the first two or three attempts to get into a hover position, I had serious doubts about being able to get the men off," Captain Wolfe-Milner said. "However, we eventually found the best way of getting in and hovering long enough for Phil Johns to be winched down on to the heaving deck and bring up one man at a time in a double harness. We came in about a dozen times altogether, and in quarter of an hour were landing the men on the mother platform." The other members of the crew who took part in the rescue were 1st Officer Charles Beilby, Mr Gerald Flaws, winch operator, and Mr Pete Moar, first-aid attendant.
The following is Captain Wolfe-Milner's debrief report on the above rescue.
Casevac - Beryl SPM, 5th December 1975.
Details of Incident:
1655
I received a request from Mobil Aberdeen to carry out the Beryl A-704-Dyvi A inter-rig shuttle as the wind was above operating limits for the 704-based S58T at 45 to 60 knots. Although Mobil had that day cancelled the 0700 and 1900 shuttle from Sumburgh with G-BDII, and we had reduced the crewing accordingly, F/O Charles Beilby undertook to do the flight with me, although he was rostered to go back to Aberdeen. We had both done an earlier flight for another client.
1800
Departed Sumburgh for the Beryl A.
1813
Sedco 704 was advising us of the crew numbers for the shuttle when he broke his transmission and told us that the Beryl SPM had broken free and that we were requested to return to Sumburgh to get a winching crew to evacuate the SPM. I asked the 704 to confirm the night winching requirement by Telex. This was never done. We turned back to Sumburgh, and Ops were advised and told to call out Phil Johns, Gerald Flaws and to get emergency gear ready.
1833
Landed Sumburgh, refuelled, and took on winching gear, the liferaft out of S61N G-BBHM, blankets, pillows, both winchmen and Peter Moar as winchman assistant.
1849
Departed Sumburgh again for the Beryl Field.
1923
Arrived Beryl Field. The Beryl A advised us that the SPM had flashing ident lights, and that they were in communication with them. The SPM was located easily, and an approach made to hover alongside to assess the deck movement and location of obstructions. The loading arm was directly downwind and as it rises above flight deck level an out-of-wind hover to the right was necessary to ensure adequate tail and rotor clearance. Movement of the SPM was considerable though not rapid. As it moves about a balljoint on the sea bed the motion is unusual in that as the SPM rolls it also travels in a horizontal direction for quite a distance. The first few attempts by Gerald Flaws to winch Phil Johns down to the deck were unsuccessful due to difficulty in maintaining the hover in position for long enough to get him onto the deck. Hover height was then increased from approximately 10 feet to 20-30 feet, to increase the marginal tail and rotor clearance, but at this height the deck wasn't visible. The attempt was abandoned and an alternate method of getting the men off was looked for unsuccessfully.
Hover height was then reduced again and yaw to the right increased to fifty to sixty degrees out of wind - this gave a better view of the deck, increased tail clearance, but made the attitude of the aircraft a bit unusual. Johns was then winched down and started double-lifting the men up. Several more aborts were made but everyone got up - including one bright soul who insisted on carrying up his suitcase in spite of being kicked away by Johns!
The aircraft assumed unusual attitudes on many occasions, which induced quite severe swinging oscillations of Johns on the winch. He said later he saw the port side of the aircraft on several occasions. Throughout the exercise the Master Warning light was flashing.
The wind on the deck was indicating from 55 to 65 knots, and torque only momentarily exceeded 60% in spite of the yaw, so safe single-engine performance was assured at all times.
Illumination of the deck was satisfactory with the landing lights. One of the SPM deck floodlights was pointing up and was blinding in one hover position, but over the deck it didn't cause a problem. The loading arm was peripherally visible from the cockpit but depth perception was poor. Gerald Flaws kept me well informed of the clearance from the tail.
1945
Winching complete.
1950
Landed Beryl platform. The four men plus Johns and Flaws disembarked, Johns to see the medic to treat badly banged shins which he hit on the cargo door lip on one winching lift. Moar stayed onboard and we carried on with the inter-rig shuttle.
2030
Departed Beryl for Sumburgh after refuelling.
2200
Landed Sumburgh and were greeted by well-trained Ops Staff with welcome cans of beer.
Comments:
1. The performance of Johns, Flaws and Beilby was excellent. The conditions were less than ideal, but there was no hesitation in getting on with a difficult and at times very dangerous task. Response by Bristow staff at Sumburgh was very quick, with crews readied and gear ready for loading with only twenty minutes notice.
2. The training given to the men on the SPM the previous weekend paid off. Johns had instructed them to kneel when on the deck to receive the double-lift harness strop, and this made the actual time on deck only seconds.
3. Only two of the men had lifejackets on, which is bordering on stupidity. There were two that didn't have hard-hats on and one who did lost it on the way up due to an insecure chin-strap. The training we gave them made it quite clear that both articles must be worn when winching.
4. The deck of the SPM had become increasingly cluttered with equipment and a Telex had been sent off on the morning of 5th. asking Mobil to get it cleared. The area from which the winching was done was relatively clear, and fortunately the cable didn't snag at all.
5. One final compliment must be paid to Sikorsky. Control movements were extreme, approaching the stops at times and hydraulic pressures were dropping to zero at times. No binding of the controls was noted and the AFCS didn't drop off line. The winch operated successfully and though the motor stopped a couple of times momentarily, the circuit breaker didn't 'pop' even though there was a lot of 'inching'.
End.
Extract from Skyweaver