crab@, we're talking of a time when Bristow had a very RN attitude (despite the personnel manager being an ex Sqdn Ldr) whereby if you were RN, when can you start? Ex AAC, let's just check whether someone knows you? Ex RAF, sorry but we'll call you. Fact of life.
Back to the lamp swinging, a time working offshore in NZ opened my eyes to a different outlook on operating. We increased the fleet a bit and got a 212 on hire from Canada, which was fine by me with my Canadian licence. The CP was also licenced and then did some endorsements on the machine, at which time a few questions revealed that the licence had expired 10-12 years before: it then became my toy as the only one suitable licenced!
We also picked up a 205 for a while, which was duly approved by the CAA to operate SE offshore without floats. Go figure?!
One thing for sure: what we got up to wouldn't be contemplated these days with the certainty that someone is bound to have a camera phone and record the antics. Sad in a way, but fun to look back upon
