Never Fretter
Actually the ultimate rationale for the withdrawal of the Shell Chinooks was the task they were doing was not what they were procured for, and Shell wanted out of a contract that had few break opportunities (and all expensive). The idea originally was an out and back trip to the ESB changing over 44 workers at a time, but in the end Shell working practices couldn't make that work and the Chinooks were doing two or three stops per rotation, swapping around 15 to 20 guys per stop, except for the Auk platform which was on its own. Using that beast as a shuttle was never going to be economic, made worse by the need then to refuel offshore. And something not mentioned here yet was the fact that Shell were using it to transport their contractor staff, the Shell employees not being happy with the high amplitude low-frequency vibration level (blade slap downwash onto the top of the fuselage) and discomfort of the really short seating pitch. Most Shell staff rotated through Sumburgh on smaller types and then fixed wing.
Last edited by Steve Stubbs; 4th Jun 2016 at 20:30.
Reason: clarity