What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)

[meanttobe]

BP looking for EOI on both S92 & EC 225 for an Oct 2014 start.


http://www.libya-businessnews.com/2013/05/02/bp-seeks-expressions-of-interest-in-helicopter-service/

[Phone Wind]

An interesting article by John Campbell giving his view on the threat posed by Boko Haram to USA and to Nigeria itself. One of his more interesting points is that suicide is anathema to West African culture and had been unknown as a weapon of terror in Nigeria. He also makes no mention of Ansaru in his article.


Should U.S. fear Boko Haram?

John Campbell is a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria (2004-2007). Currently he is the Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York. He is the author of Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink; a second, updated edition appeared in June. He writes the blog "Africa in Transition" and edits the Nigeria Security Tracker."

Last weekend, suspected Islamic jihadists killed at least 40 students at a Northern Nigerian agricultural college, many while they slept. The Council on Foreign Relations Nigeria Security Tracker shows that jihadist-related attacks in Nigeria are increasing. Most of the victims in this violence are Muslim, but some are Christian.
While no group has claimed responsibility for Sunday's massacre, the Nigerian media assigns responsibility to Boko Haram, and the operation has the hallmarks of the group's previous massacres.
What is Boko Haram? It remains shrouded in mystery. Boko is the Hausa word for "book," and commonly refers to Western education. Haram is the Arabic word for "forbidden." Hostile to democracy, modern science, and Western education as non-Islamic, it is highly diffuse. For some adherents, religious, even apocalyptic, themes appear to be paramount.

They are looking toward the creation of God's kingdom on earth through violence against those they see as Islam's enemies, rather than the achievement of a political program. But, political opportunists and criminals also operate under the label of "Boko Haram."
The movement's umbrella appears to be a shared Islamic vocabulary of protest, a hatred of the secular government in Abuja and of a corrupt Nigerian political economy -- and a disposition toward violence. It is especially murderous toward members of the Islamic establishment that have "sold out" to Abuja.
It does not appear to have an overarching political structure, and Abubakar Shekau, the leader of perhaps its largest element, does not exercise universal command or control over many of its elements.

Does this pose a threat to U.S. or other Western interests? Should ties between the United States and the Abuja government strengthen under the guise of a common "war on terror," American interests -- though limited in Northern Nigeria -- could become a Boko Haram target, not least because "the friend of my enemy is my enemy."
Thus far, Boko Haram has shown little interest in the world outside of Nigeria and the Sahel. But the situation in Nigeria is dynamic, and it is possible that closer ties will develop between al-Qaeda and elements of Boko Haram.

The group was founded by Malam Mohammed Yusuf, a charismatic preacher who was murdered by police in 2009 in a public episode that went viral on the internet. But, even with respect to Yusuf's core disciples, there is remarkably little hard information about their structure and leadership. After Yusuf's murder, leadership fell to his deputy, Abubakar Shekau. He normally communicates through videos, and has not been seen in person since Yusuf's death. His latest video appeared in September 2013.
The revolt's foot soldiers likely are drawn from unemployed youth in Northern Nigeria, a region of profound poverty. Many of them attended Islamic schools where they learned little other than to memorize the Quran. Often they are children of peasants, rootless if not homeless, in a big city. They can bond through a common radical Islamic sensibility, inchoate rage, and the prospect of earning a little money as terrorists.
Up until 2012, Boko Haram attacks appeared to be largely funded by bank robberies. One commentator credibly estimated that there had been several dozen since 2011. Boko Haram has successfully looted weapons from government arsenals. What is new is Boko Haram's use of suicide bombers. Suicide is anathema to West African culture, and had been unknown as a weapon of terror in Nigeria.

West African borders are porous, and travel between Nigeria and areas where al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- the Salafi-jihadist militant group -- operates is easy. Yet, while there is evidence of communication between different groups in the region, there continues to be little sign that al-Qaeda's influence has been transformative. Instead of the international jihad, Boko Haram continues to be focused primarily on internal Nigerian issues. It shows little interest in southern Nigeria, let alone Europe or the United States.
Still, Nigeria's federal government is addressing Boko Haram as an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist movement. On May 14 President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the three northern states of Yobe, Adamawa, and Borno, where Boko Haram normally concentrates. But the heavy security presence, especially during the state of emergency in these areas, is dysfunctional. There is a downward spiral, with soldiers resorting to brutality on an increasingly hostile population. On the other hand, soldiers and police are primary targets of Boko Haram, and their casualty levels are high.
An endgame is hard to foresee. In the past, millenarian Islamic movements have burned themselves out, often under military pressure. There are few signs this process is under way. And the military appears incapable of controlling it. If Boko Haram is not going away, it is also unlikely to be able to overthrow the Nigerian state.

[unstable load]

Keke Napep,
Any truth to the rumour I heard that Heli Malongo are looking for S76 pilots and engineers for Angola and pilot pay is $190K for A 4/4 touring roster? There was something about it on another thread, but not sure if the talk of pilots and engineers leaving is sour grapes or there are some genuine issues there.
I can't confirm the salary, but they are probably looking for guys. Some left for the grapes, but there do seem to be issues for others.

[Savoia]

Atlantic Aviation Commences Ops

Atlantic Aviation, a new Nigerian helicopter-services operator, has announced commencement of flight operations for oil and gas organisations in the Niger Delta region.

Atlantic Aviation, is an indigenous company wholly owned by Jagal Group with technical service support given by CHC Helicopter.

According to a statement, it completed its first commercial offshore flight for Total Exploration &Production Nigeria Limited off the Nigerian coast on Thursday.

On its maiden commercial flight, Atlantic Aviation transported ten employees and contractors of Total Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited from Port Harcourt Nigerian Air Force Base to their FSO Unity offshore installations with a Sikorsky 76C helicopter.

Shaf Syed, Regional Director Atlantic Aviation said: “This is significant for Atlantic Aviation, but represents only the first days of what we expect will be many years of demonstrating how we can help oil and gas operators to go further and do more in Nigeria, one of the world’s fastest growing regions for this industry.

WorldStage News | Firm commences helicopter operation in oil and gas sector (http://www.worldstagegroup.com/worldstagenew/index.php?active=news&newscid=11755&catid=27)

ABOUT US (http://www.aaviation.com/index.php/about-us-2)

[Phone Wind]

With Bristow's new announcement that crews will soon all have to change their crew change days to weekends I wonder if some will desert to Atlantic/CHC. Those with families will effectively lose a couple of weekends with their children (though that may come as a relief to one or two :E).

I hear rumours that Aero Contractors may be ready to dispose of their helicopter division :uhoh:. I wonder who would buy it, or indeed, bi in a position to? One rumour has it that Nestoil may be interested as they want to get an AOC. As an indigenous company, that would leave them in a good position to compete with Caverton, especially as Atlantic Aviation also lays claim too being an indigenous company. The loser in all this would be Bristow as the only large helicopter operator which is classed as a Nigeria company (i.e. one with foreign partners), putting it at a disadvantage politically in contract tenders.

Nigeria's offshore industry is rather static at the moment as electioneering 2 years ahead of the 2015 presidential elections means it is unlikely the Petroleum Industry Bill, already years behind schedule, will pass in that time. The focus of the IOCs is shifting to other African countries with more political stability and a better climate for investors.

[747 jock]

I was hoping that someone currently based in Nigeria with Bristow would be able to help with this.
I'm trying to find out what the daily workover rate is for both engineers and aircrew (captains) and have been given various figures from different people.

Many thanks.

[beep trim]

$750 for captains.

[mapmaker]

Around $750 a day for PIC and $500 for SFO. After 6 weeks and 120-140 hrs, might want to enjoy the time off though...(?) :hmm:

[SASless]

Nothing to do with helicopters....but for you guys and gals out in Nigeria....this is something you have to see.

Remember the rescue of the Ship's Cook off the Tug Boat that overturned and sank in a Hundred Feet of water back in May?

Here's the Video.....Amazing stuff!


Watch Divers Rescue Frantic Man Trapped Underwater ... Three Days After Boat Sank | Independent Journal Review (http://www.ijreview.com/2013/12/98786-watch-divers-rescue-frantic-man-capsized-ship-three-days-capsized/)

[Phone Wind]

I've recently heard from a couple of Bristow people that Pan African Airlines, which was sold off to its Nigerian shareholders recently is to be wound up as it no longer fits into the Bristow corporate strategy. It was split off from Bristow Nigeria fairly recently and nobody outside Bristow really understands how it still remains part of the West African business unit. It seems to be just an operation where the aircraft are leased from one part of Bristow and the crews leased from BIAGL and Company 16 or whatever it is they now call the entity which hires pilots from the USA.
Has anybody else heard this rumour? I got it from a usually knowledgeable Bristow source, but what it means for the future of PAAN, I have no clue :confused:

[Keke Napep]

I also hear Bristow is to pull out of PAAN, but what does that mean? I think the aircraft all belong to Bristow and the pilots are hired through BIAGL or that new American company Bristow set up and mechanics all come from BATS (which is also Bristow). But I'm sure Chevron won't just allow Bristow to pull out. How long is it until the contracts in Warri and Escravos finish? Maybe Bristow will sell the machines to PAAN? What will then happen to the pilots and mechanics?
Bristow recently announced that it's pulling out of Alaska because it doesn't seem to fit in with their core business plan, so I guess they could view PAAN the same way as it's mostly a single engine operation and has a few fixed wing aircraft which can't make much profit.
I'm sure Caverton, Atlantic/CHC and Aero must be happy at the chance to possibly expand their business. CHC has achieved almost nothing since pulling out of its disastrous relationship with Aero, but Atlantic/Nigerdock have some very sharp people in management and it's only a matter of time before they manage to pick up something worthwhile.
There are some pretty unhappy people with Caverton but there are quite a few AW139 jobs out there at the moment. There are also quite a lot of unhappy guys with Bristow, especially in a Port Harcourt where Super Puma crews are wondering what the future holds and S76 crews are tired of constant roster changes and being told that they're over strength despite flying their butts off :ugh::ugh:

[JABAG]

Intrestingly,

the sharp people in mangement at Atlantic are ex Aero!:oh:

[Keke Napep]

I wasn't referring the the ex-Aero guys who're about as sharp as a plasticine knife :}; I was talking about the Nigerdock/Atlantic aviation guys :ok:

[unstable load]

The sharp people at Atlantic are CHC/Nigerdock. Some employees are ex-Aero.
CHC/Atlantic have been given permission by NCAA to apply to amend their AOC to include the 139. :D

Watch this airspace, I think.....:ok::E

[Keke Napep]

The sharp people at Atlantic are CHC/


CHC/Atlantic have been given permission by NCAA to apply to amend their AOC to include the 139

Na waooo, having had it there for about 8 months already they've been given permission to apply to amend their AOC. Should be up and earning revenue in only another year or two then :D . Very commercial I'm sure

[unstable load]

Na waooo, having had it there for about 8 months already they've been given permission to apply to amend their AOC.
That is the price of doing business honestly and transparently under such circumstances.
I am sure the less scrupulous in the industry have been ferrying brown envelopes to delay/stop them at all costs.....

Problem is, once the paperwork has been sent home X number of times, nothing remains as an excuse to refuse it, resulting in a satisfactory, albeit expensive, result.

[Keke Napep]

That is the price of doing business honestly and transparently under such circumstances.
I am sure the less scrupulous in the industry have been ferrying brown envelopes to delay/stop them at all costs.....

Problem is, once the paperwork has been sent home X number of times, nothing remains as an excuse to refuse it, resulting in a satisfactory, albeit expensive, result.


There are also those who might say that a better business practice would be to have all the paperwork in place before bringing in an expensive machine to sit around doing nothing := . Bristow has been doing business in a manner satisfactory to USA regulators but doesn't have aircraft sitting around earning no revenue for more than 6 months.

[unstable load]

There are also those who might say that a better business practice would be to have all the paperwork in place before bringing in an expensive machine to sit around doing nothing
In order to apply machine has to be in country, so any delay from then on is going to cost.....
Still, that was their decision to do it this way and they will have hopefully had their eyes open to the potential challenges when they set out down this road.

[soggyboxers]

I very much doubt that Bristow are cutting their connection with PAAN. I think that some people, having seen that there are a few changes in the upper levels of PAAN management are putting 2+2 together and making 5.
I'm no longer in Nigeria, having moved to The Haven of Peace, but I still have contact with many friends in The Tropical Paradise :E and none of them have heard anything. There's also the fact that PAAN are just bidding for the renewal of the Chevron contract which would be unlikely to happen if their association with Bristow were suddenly to finish.

[unstable load]

Considering that PAAN had the Chevron job since Moby Dick was a sardine and wthout Bristow at the reins, how will their suddenly becoming PAAN Standalone suddenly be detrimental to them?

[SASless]

My first ever visit to Lagos was from Bobo-Dioulasso in pursuit of a job flying Bell 47's for Pan African.....circa 1974. The wonderful welcome i received at the Lagos Airport prompted me to board a BCal flight to London the next morning.

Yes....PAAN has been at it for a while and will continue doing just fine unless they do as some other Nigerian outfits have done in the past. They certainly have the experience and background and qualified people to carry on as they have in the decades before. Unless and until you start seeing a turnover in people....nothing has changed that really matters.

[Tea Bag]

PAAN reputation is paramount, in the Nigerian aviation industry. They will transition to meet the needs of client demands - Cheers

[SASless]

As will their competitors and friends :oh: too.

[Phone Wind]

Considering that PAAN had the Chevron job since Moby Dick was a sardine and wthout Bristow at the reins, how will their suddenly becoming PAAN Standalone suddenly be detrimental to them?

I thought the reason they were originally bought out by Air Logistics was because they were in financial difficulty?

[unstable load]

Can't speak for that, but we were never short of spares or staff in my time there.
Air Log did clean out the stores and ship most of the stuff back Statsesides, like they did at Bristow, so who was short of money is a mystery.....

[madflyer26]

Guys,

What experience level and ratings are required for work in Nigeria? Do they accept FAA and EASA licenses? Thanks in advance.
Regards
MF26

[Tea Bag]

I hear all Bell products must go mate :confused:

[xtremalsound]

Madflyer26,

Almost of the licenses are valid at Nigeria... EASA, FAA, INDIAN, South African...

Regards

[unstable load]

I hear all Bell products must go mate http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/confused.gif
In favour of what?
Do you refer to the rumour that the Eket job is going to tender for
S76 C++/D's, or to the proliferation of Bells in Escravos?

[Keke Napep]

Expatriate resigns over salaries delay of Nigerian workers

on January 11, 2014 / in News 3:00 am / Comments


By Daniel Eteghe

A Base Maintenance Manager at Caverton Helicopters, Mr. Surendra Bhagwandass yesterday resigned over non-payment of salaries and unfair treatment of Nigerian workers in the company.

The company, which has contracts with companies like SHELL, TOTAL among others was accused of not paying the salaries of its Nigerian workers last month (December 2013).

Bhagwandass who tendered his resignation letter through an email to the management of Caverton said that he became frustrated knowing that the expatriates workers were being taken care of while their Nigerian counterparts were not only poorly paid but their salaries delayed and described the development as unfair.

“Shame on you guys. I heard from the people I work with that they are not paid for the festive season. This is a security breach as I now feel uncomfortable to travel and work, while you guys have a merry time.

“Please have heart as these people have families, while you all enjoy the best; being with your families. You all (set) break the record as the only company in the world who do not pay your workers. Shame on you guys,”he expatriate stated in the email.

Some of the Nigerain workers at Caverton Helicopters said it was painful to know that expatriate staff were paid in dollars but the Nigerian workers who put in more effort on the job were paid less.

They also said, that while they are not given accommodation or security escorts, expatriates enjoyed such benefits.

“They are paid in dollars, we in Naira but we work more than them. Several staff have been attacked because they leave their houses around 4 am. There is no security for us. But they enjoy everything in our country,” the staff said.

He further accused Caverton Helicopters of failing to take good care of its staff even after promising oil companies that it would do so before signing contracts with them.

The Personal Assistant to the Managing Director of Caverton Helicopters, Mrs. Doyin Elegbe denied the allegations.


Caverton, a wonderful company to work for with the highest standards and ethics. Rumor has it that the Director of ?...... Has also just quit.

It'll also be interesting to see how much longer CHC is around in Nigeria with its parent company just having put 29 million plus shares on the market, presumably as a last-ditch effort to raise money preparatory to selling it off.

[212man]

Director of ?...... Has also just quit.

Quality and Safety? (Genuine question, not insinuation....)

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

212,

Has another Q & S Director gone ? I'm a bit behind the curve maybe ? GW left some time ago, has his successor now left as well ?

NEO

[212man]

Has another Q & S Director gone ? I'm a bit behind the curve maybe ? GW left some time ago, has his successor now left as well ?


(Genuine question, not insinuation....)

No idea - I was just responding the previous post.

[Keke Napep]

Not Q&S from Caverton.

S76Ds are on the cards to replace the 412s in Warri as well as Eket, but who knows if Chevron will ever actually get around to replacing the singles (which do a good job) with twins, and if they do will Bell or Airbus Helicopters win the day? No matter what, there are a lot of disgruntled people, especially in PH now particularly after a few people were forced to depart and excessive roster changes were yet again order of the day. Despite that, management still keep banging on about being overstaffed (whilst at the same time almost every month there is an announcement of a new VP of this, a manager of that, usually in the human remains, financial disaster, service delivery, supply chain 'biz dev and elf and safety departments :ugh::( ).

PAAN's managing director is supposed to be going to Tanzania soon as part of the Bristow-contract-that-isn't-a-Bristow-contract :suspect::confused:. A lot of people are confused about this, especially with photos of the helicopters having the names of 2 operators on them.

How many pilots have now heard whether they'll be able to escape Nigeria to the peaceful delights of flying out of Malta to offshore Libya? Of course, if the aircraft are not going to be going near Libyan soil and all the staff are based in 5he holiday destination of Malta, the allowances are likely to be almost non-existent when compared to the 'tropical paradise' with its delightful accommodation in 5 star, secure holiday camps :yuk:

[meanttobe]

Didn't know BP awarded the Libya tender yet. It's not due to start for another 10 months. They are looking for 3 heavies. 92 or 225 will do.

http://www.libya-businessnews.com/2013/05/02/bp-seeks-expressions-of-interest-in-helicopter-service/

[Keke Napep]

Bristow have quite a few EC225s they'd like to shift from Aberdeen right now!

However, it looks as if Nigeria is not much safer than Libya anyway and barely outranks CAR and DRC - oh yes, we know how to rock and enjoy ourselves in the TP :E And if you work for Caverton, you can double the fun with late pay, grrrreat accommodation and security you know you can trust (oh ya, the bad guys stay away because they're afraid :suspect:)


Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries in Africa, Nigeria 6th position

This top 10 list of most dangerous countries in Africa is based on the degree instability and danger that commonly erupt in these countries. Most of these countries are characterised by war and political instability, acts of terrorism, crimes against humanity. This list is taken from the Global Peace Index report of 2012. Global Peace Index has been classifying 153 countries according to how peaceful they are. The 2012 Global Peace Index has actually discovered that the world has become slightly more peaceful when compared to the previous year. The list considers renewed fighting, the resurgence of political instability including terrorist threats. Here is the list of:
10 Most Dangerous Countries in Africa
10. Ethiopia
Ethiopia comes up at number 10 on our list of 10 most dangerous places in Africa. Ethiopia has been involved in a conflict with Eritrea for more than ten years. Eritrea got her independence from Ethiopia about 30 years ago following a prolonged fight for freedom. The Border disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been going on ever since Eritrea broke free from Ethiopia in 1991. The International Court of Justice had clearly defined the borders between the 2 countries but there is still a tense relationship between the nations. The Ethiopia have not fully withdrawn from the region.
There is also a group known as Oromo Liberation Front which has been labeled as outlaw and a terrorist organisation by the Ethiopian government. The organisation was started in 1973 by Oromo nationalists to promote self-determination for the Oromo people against what they call “Abyssinian colonial rule”
9. Burundi
For the past 15 years, Burundi has known political conflict and for more than a decade, the local and regional peace talks have been initiated. The international community other peace loving organisations have tried to find a way out of the endless Burundian conflicts but the outcome seems to be a worsening state of political, economic and social violence and inequalities. The misaligned political interests have fuelled these instabilities over the years.
8. Zimbabwe
Following the country’s presidential election in 2008 between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, his main rival, both claimed victory in the first round of elections, Zimbabwe has regenerated a wave of renewed violence and instability. with the establishment of a system with two-heads: president as Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister in 2009, the situation has eased off a little bit.
Zimbabwe Peace Project reported a 15% increase in human rights violations that were “directly linked” to the new push for polls in 2012 and 2 years earlier, attempts by the Prime Minister to develop the Constitution have been sabotaged by the camp of Robert Mugabe. Public meetings were banned, arbitrary arrests, looting and ransacking, have pushed the country into violence. In general, Zimbabwean government has remained a troubled coalition characterised by bickering and stalemate. The political impasse has impacted negatively on the benefits of a good governance and stalled Zimbabwe from operating in its full capacity. It has generally constrained peaceful political participation as well as economic progress.
7. Chad
Chad has drastically improved it’s position by striking a more healthy relationship with her neighbouring countries. In the recent past, Chad was politically insecure and volatile. Ethnic clashes, banditry and fighting between government forces and rebel groups contributed to a worsening security situation in the region. It was reported that an estimated 180,000 Chadians were forced from their homes within three years while 285,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Darfur region of Sudan have fled violence in their own countries and live in refugee camps in eastern Chad. The instability also impacted some 700,000 Chadians whose communities have been disrupted by fighting and strained by the presence of the displaced.
6. Nigeria
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and home to over 155 million people is in the midst of political, economic and social instability. The north, central and south eastern parts of Nigeria are the most affected parts. In the recent times, there has been a sharp increase in religious conflict at the north of the country where the killings of Muslims and Christians have sent nearly 20,000 to their death within the last decade. There has also been an increase in acts of terrorism and inhumanity against government and public structures including churches carried out by a sect called Boko Haram.
The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) operates in the southern part of the country, attacking the facilities and personnel of oil companies. Kidnappings of expatriates and attacks on oil pipelines are their predilections. The Amnesty programme initiated by the Federal Government seem to have successfully reduced these attacks on government properties But the country is facing a rising wave of kidnapping and corruption.
5. Libya
The crisis in Libya seized the attention of the international community and has been labeled a clear case for when timely and decisive response to uphold response in the face of an imminent threat of mass atrocities should occur. The protests led to the downfall of the authority of Muammar Gaddafi in the east. Since then, international intervention under the authority of NATO has still not managed to completely restore calm in the country.
4. Central African Republic
Despite the signing of a peace agreement in 2008, some groups have not signed the agreement and are still active. The security situation in the Central African Republic is growing more precarious by the day as an insurgent coalition advances toward the capital city of Bangui. In south-east, the troops of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony, continue unabated. This group is part of the most violent in the world, has expanded internationally and is present in the DRC and southern Sudan, where he is engaged in looting and abductions of civilians.
The Central African Republic has recently joined the list. Central African Republic faces a devastating humanitarian crisis that threatens to plunge the population even deeper into misery.
3. Democratic Republic of Congo
A series of landmark and peer-reviewed studies by the IRC and some of the world’s leading epidemiologists conclude that an estimated 5.4 million people died from conflict-related causes in Congo since 1998.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has faced a lot of border insecurity and violence within. The massive influx of refugees after the Rwandan genocide.
To the east, the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU), Ugandan rebel movement, is in conflict with the Congolese government. This group is related to the Shabab Somali fundamentalist Islamic group linked to al-Qaida.
2 – Sudan
Sudan is a country that has suffered internal conflicts with serious political, security and humanitarian consequences over the years and the situation in has worsened from the past 2 years. Violence has flared along the border since South Sudan became independent last year. Conflicts have erupted in two border states where communities traditionally allied to the south found themselves north of the border after independence. The conflict in Darfur has killed about 300,000 people, including those due to famine and disease, and 2.7 million people have been displaced since 2003. The peace agreement signed in 2006 between the government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the strongest rebel groups, is fragile because all factions did not sign.
In the South, thanks to self-determination referendum in 2011, the conflict in Southern Sudan is in the process of healing. However, the situation in Abyei, remains uncertain.
1 – Somalia
For over 20 years, Somalia has been in the face of a civil war. There has been constant conflict between the Transitional Federal Government which is supported by the United Nations and several groups of Islamist rebels, some of which are close to al-Qaida.
The government of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed seems to control part of the capital Mogadishu, which happens to be the scene of regular fighting between both sides to maintain control.
With Somalia’s stability still foggy, over 20 percent of Somalis under the Office of the United Nations for Refugees (UNHCR) have fled the country controlled by fear.
Among all the sub-Saharan African countries which experienced wars in the past 10 years Rwanda have not been ranked among the ten most dangerous countries.

[Phone Wind]

And if you work for Caverton, you can double the fun with late pay, grrrreat accommodation and security you know you can trust



..... and you think Bristow security is great? In Port Harcourt housing it's a joke. But it's okay, it's a big American company with a common global security policy. Oh, wait, it's a minority shareholder in BHNL - never mind we can all sleep safe and secure in our beds :rolleyes: . But in Lagos we have the impregnable fortress of the BRC where we stay in a delightful area in 5 star luxury because of its safety and nothing to do with links to the ..u family :suspect:

[xtremalsound]

You should see Caverton Staff house, I have been in both of them, Bristow and Caverton( in PH and Lagos) ones and I can tell you that Bristow Staff house is a 6 hotel start comparing with Caverton one...

I don't want to commend about the other things mentinoned in the previous post but all are very true... :D

[Keke Napep]

It seems Wacko Jacko is alive and well and in Nigeria and has just been appointed, in yuck-speak terms, Service Delivery Manager Nigeria leapfrogging his old boss in Bristow :E .Depending on your point of view, this is either 'a very, very good thing, top-man Nigerian with degrees up too his armpits (but no common sense) now takes over as number 2 in the Bristow Nigeria operation and lots of good things will happen as a result ...... or the lunatics have finally taken over the asylum and everyone hopes nobody will notice :} .

Reports of deep joy throughout the Bristow community as Wacko with his vast experience of running a couple of EC155s for Smell, now gets the recognition he so richly deserves. Naturally there is much speculation in our happily united community as to who will replace him as deputy head of fright slops and how much say DD will have in this. Will it be NEO, will it be Hoofie or will a woman hold that post for the first time :E.

There are also reports of many messages of congratulation from Al-tantric Aviation, No-more Contractors and the Nigerian Center of Excellence at the news that their future is now safe :E:ok:

From a personal point of view ..... anybody know of any openings for S76 or B412 pilots? :\

[Keke Napep]

Maybe, GS is leaving Cavers..... to join his original company, Bristoe as deputy head of fright ops. He'd probably like that as if he had to actually fly he'd have to wear one of our very tasteful viceroy blue flight suits, which will go down as the lasting legacy of DD.

The post about a woman as deputy HoFO was rather tongue-in-cheek as the upper echelons of our company in Nigeria are not somehow keen on women. Strange, as we have a number of very capable, highly esteemed, totally incorruptible women who are prominent in our aviation industry, such as the former financier and wife of the former CEO of No-fly Contractors, Mrs Cecilia IrnBru and our highly respected and esteemed Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi :E

[Phone Wind]

KN, you're wide of the mark; Adinba is taking over from Wacko Jacko - something of a sensible counterbalance in the nationalisation of the senior positions in Bristow Nigeria. I suppose EA could take over from him as TM and it seems poor old Stilo has been passed over again. What of their course mate, AO? It seems that the saffers may be in the decline.
Lots of pilots looking elsewhere, but no matter how green the grass may seem and how appalling the BRC actually is, it's still apparently good money in Nigeria ((until you look at what's available in so many other (far more pleasant) places now)).
It's a brave attempt at Nigerianisation but doesn't look to solve any but political problems.
Meanwhile what on earth are PAAN going to come up with when they only have about 3 Nigerians working for them :E

[Keke Napep]

Well, we're all wondering what Bill is coming up with in the big Bristow announcement today. Quite a lot of the Senior Management Team sold large tranches of their shares recently, so could this be a prelude to some of them retiring with their profits, or some of the company being sold off?

[meanttobe]

Or maybe they are announcing that they are about buy something. !!!!

[Keke Napep]

As suspected, there's just been an announcement that Bill Chiles is to retire in July of this year, though he will continue as a consultant until July 2016. Shame, he's a good man. At least his replacement Jonathan Baliff, although an accountant/financier, was also a pilot in the USAF and flew F4Gs in Gulf War 1

[meanttobe]

Understand Atlantic Aviation / CHC have finally captured some permanent work. They are flying a single AW 139 for Shell at the moment with more to come if the rumours are correct.

[malabo]

I'm from Missouri, show me a picture of passengers and an Atlantic 139, otherwise it is just more hot air. Or maybe you meant to say that they hope to be flying soon.........

[JABAG]

Hey guys,

This is for real. They will be operating out of a facillity just next to caverton.

They are finally up and running despite all the setbacks an opposition.

[unstable load]

malabo,
I believe it is true from a guy on site. Good for them!

JABAG,
AA is across the runway from Caverton in one of the Navy hangars adjacent to the tower.

[TigaLagiBu]

AA is not across any runway in DNMM, nor is the Navy hanger adjacent the tower unless they moved it while I was taxing in minutes ago. They are across town in Snake Island... Does that ring a bell?? Use google earth you will find it. Flying Yes, Passengers Yes, Contract Yes. Pax pick up, their lies the secret, but I bet it is around the Caverton ramp area plus or minus 100 meters.

[JABAG]

Yep,

you are right. Pick up / drop off just round the corner from Caverton.

[unstable load]

AA is not across any runway in DNMM, nor is the Navy hanger adjacent the tower unless they moved it while I was taxing in minutes ago. They are across town in Snake Island... Does that ring a bell?? True enough, but in PH at the NAF Base it is.......

[xtremalsound]

These past days it has been a CHC AW139 on Executive jets at DNMM. This place is 50 meters of caverton ramp. It just the next hangar where there is another net oil AW139...

[Tango123]

Gettin a bit of Cavertons contract with snepco?

Helihub:

14 Feb, 14
Atlantic Aviation commences AW139 Commercial Helicopter Flights for Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company (SNEPCo)

New helicopter-services operator Atlantic Aviation, supported by one of the world's leading providers of high-quality transportation to offshore oil and gas producers, has begun commercial flights of Agusta Westland 139 (AW139) helicopters from Lagos.

Atlantic Aviation, a Nigerian company owned by Jagal Group with technical service support from CHC Helicopter, started crew-rotation flights for Shell from Murtala Muhammed International Airport to the Deepwater Discovery drill ship. On its maiden commercial flight, Atlantic Aviation transported nine Transocean employees to the waters around the Shell Bonga concession.

The Deepwater Discovery is a fast drilling ship that is boring some 80 holes in a relatively short amount of time in the Gulf of Guinea.

Shaf Syed, regional director Atlantic Aviation said the first flights were significant:

"These flights are only the first of what we expect will be many years of helping oil and gas operators to go further, do more and come home safely in Nigeria, one of the world's fastest growing regions for this industry."

"Today represents a culmination of several months of planning and hard work from many people, to establish and demonstrate Atlantic Aviation. In line with the Governments' strategic agenda on investment, job creation and Nigerian Content Development, Atlantic Aviation is investing in delivering to Nigeria world class standards through quality and excellence.

Mr Syed said that with technical service support from CHC for training, flight and engineering standards, Atlantic Aviation will become “the leading helicopter operator in this market."

"Customers will feel reassured by the depth of experience and expertise that we bring to this sector in Nigeria," he said.

The twin-engine, medium-sized AW139 helicopter is well suited to current and future requirements of Nigerian offshore drilling, having the range and capability to operate into the deep water and frontier drilling ultra-deep water fields. The AW139 aircraft is a new technology helicopter that meets all the latest offshore safety requirements whilst bringing enhanced customer comfort to the offshore traveller.

With all the regulatory approvals now in place, Atlantic Aviation intends to ramp-up its operations and introduce more helicopters into the under-served Nigeria market, with additional AW139 helicopters joining the fleet over the coming months.

Atlantic Aviation has established bases with efficient facilities and hangars in Lagos (able to operate out of both Snake Island and international airport) and Port Harcourt, where further investment is being made to develop a state-of-the-art operational hub. The company is able to serve customers on long-term contracts and for hourly charter work.

[onwings]

Bristow Senior VP Commercial, Mark Duncan quits:ugh:

[Phone Wind]

Mark Duncan has little to do with Nigeria, though he was one of the major figures in the negotiations for the JV in Tanzania with Everett Aviation. It will be interesting to see who replaces him, what impact this will have on the International Business Unit of Bristow and any future ventures with Everett. What is most interesting to me is that he is leaving at such short notice. Has anyone heard where he is going? He'll be gone before Bill Chiles. It's also interesting to see that his name has already been removed from the Bristow Group Inc.’s Senior Leadership Team page on the company website, though he is still listed as the director of the Other International Business Unit :confused:


4 Mar, 14
Bristow have filed the following statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission:- On March 3, 2014, Mark B. Duncan, Senior Vice President, Commercial of Bristow Group Inc. (the “ Company”), made his decision to leave the Company effective March 8, 2014 in order to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Duncan and the Company are in the process of negotiating a Separation Agreement and Release to specify the terms of his departure from the Company with the benefits and compensation provided in connection therewith anticipated to be substantially consistent with the termination without cause terms set forth in his Amended and Restated Employment Agreement dated June 6, 2006, as amended March 10, 2008, and the Company’s Vesting of Awards Upon Involuntary Termination Without Cause Policy dated November 6, 2013.

Mr Duncan's profile on Bristow website reads:

Mark B. Duncan joined the company in January 2005 as vice president of global business development, and was promoted to senior vice president of global business development, in January 2006. In January 2008, Duncan became senior vice president, Western Hemisphere, and moved to his current position as senior vice president, Commercial, in December 2009. Prior to joining Bristow, he was commercial director in the deepwater floating production systems division of ABB based in Houston, Texas. Prior to this, he spent 18 years with the Halliburton/Brown & Root Group, mostly in the subsea sector where he filled various positions working in the North Sea, Brazil and several other international areas, ultimately holding the position of senior global vice president, commercial, for the Subsea 7 entity.


He's certainly done well out of Bristow:


Mark Duncan - Bristow Group Executive

Divisional Senior VP at Bristow Group

Age: 51
Reported Accumulated Compensation: $14,679,740
Total Annual Compensation: $1,724,114

2013 BIOGRAPHY
Mr. Duncan was promoted to Senior Vice President, Commercial in December 2009. He joined us in January 2005 as Vice President, Global Business Development. He was promoted to Senior Vice President, Global Business Development effective January 1, 2006 and to Senior Vice President, Western Hemisphere in April 2008. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Duncan worked at ABB Lummus Global Inc. from 2002 to 2005. At ABB, Mr. Duncan served as Commercial Director in the Deepwater Floating Production Systems division, based in Houston, Texas. From 1985 to 2002, Mr. Duncan worked for the Halliburton/Brown & Root Group, mostly in the subsea sector where he filled various positions working in the North Sea, Brazil and several other international areas, ultimately holding the position of Senior Global Vice President Commercial for the Subsea 7 entity.

BRISTOW GROUP EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION
Position
Divisional Senior VP
Total Annual Compensation
$1,724,114
Percent Change in Compensation
19.6%
Tenure
2005 - Present
TOTAL COMPENSATION RANK
Total Annual Compensation
$1.72MILLION
Compensation Rank
#5,139
OUT OF 15,299 PUBLIC EXECUTIVES

OTHER EMPLOYERS
Company - Contango Oil & Gas Co. Position - Other Corporate Officer

Executive Tenure - 2005 - present. Total Annual Compensation $580,000
Total reported Compensation at Company - $4.76M

Compensation at Bristow Group

Compensation BreakdownCompensation Glossary
In 2013, Mark Duncan made $1,724,114 at Bristow Group as a Divisional Senior VP. His compensation changed 19.6% from the previous year. With this compensation, Mark Duncan made more than the average public executive and more than his executive colleagues at Bristow Group.

Mark Duncan's 2013 compensation is broken down as follows:

A $382,890 salary. This salary is slightly more than the average public executive's salary and more than the salary of other executives at Bristow Group.
$609,121 in restricted stock awards. This is more than the value of the average public executive's restricted stock awards and more than the value of the average Bristow Group executive's restricted stock awards.
$297,103 in option awards. This is more than the value of the average public executive's option awards and more than the value of the average Bristow Group executive's option awards.
$334,838 in non-equity incentive plan compensation. This is slightly more than the average public executive's non-equity incentive plan compensation and on par with the non-equity incentive plan compensation of other Bristow Group executives..
$100,162 in other compensation. This is more than the average public executive's other compensation and slightly more than the other compensation of other executives at Bristow Group.
COMPENSATION BREAKDOWN 2013
Salary $382,890
Restricted Stock Awards $609,121
Option Awards $297,103
Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation $334,838
+Other Compensation $100,162
Total Compensation $1,724,114

Source Executives - Find the Company (http://executives.findthecompany.com/l/41355/Mark-Duncan)

I wonder how many non-managerial staff got a 19.6% increase in 'compensation' in 2013? :}:(

It's also interesting that Caverton is moving another AW139s into Nigeria and Bristow is ramping up for the introduction of the S76D and bringing in more S92s, while Atlantic is still talking about bringing in more AW139s. I wonder how the S76D will compare with the 139 in the real world? Personally, I don't particularly like either.

I know of a lot of unhappy employees in both Caverton and Bristow at the moment and there are a lot of AW139 opportunities outside of Nigeria. With what looks like a big commercial tussle coming up and both Bristow and Caverton having a big shake up in their middle/senior management teams in Nigeria it will be interesting to see how different things look at the end of 2014.

There will doubtless be many in the Nigerian helicopter community outside Aero/Atlantic Aviation/Jagal who have not heard of Shaf Syed. However, he is more than qualified to cause a lot of headaches to the other 'Nigerian' helicopter operators (as Aero, Pan African, Caverton, OAS, Nestoil and Atlantic are classed as indigenous companies, unlike Bristow whose Nigerian content and credentials are under increasing doubt). However, Shafiul Sayed has an impressive background in the airline industry and in Third and developing world countries. Here's his Linkedin profile before he joined Jagal as Regional Director:

CEO & Managing Director (Fixed Wing) Aero Contractors of Nigeria Ltd
Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Airlines/Aviation industry
July 2009 – December 2010 (1 year 6 months)

Accountable to the Board of Directors and shareholders, with overall strategic responsibility for the safety, direction, development and efficiency of the company.

Chief of Staff/Project Director BG Group
Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; BG.L; Oil & Energy industry
August 2006 – July 2009 (3 years)

General Manager role responsible for all business services that support the main gas operations for BG in Egypt - including HR, Policy & Corporate Affairs, HSE, Security, IT, Contracts & Purchasing, Administration and Properties Management.

Area Manager, West Africa British Airways

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; BAY; Airlines/Aviation industry
April 2003 – July 2006 (3 years 4 months)

General Manager responsible for the airline's day-to-day and strategic management of its interests in West Africa.

Country Commercial Manager, Nigeria British Airways
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; BAY; Airlines/Aviation industry
May 2001 – March 2003 (1 year 11 months)

Responsible for all Commercial Activities related to British Airways' Operations in Nigeria.

UK&I Sales Account Manager British Airways
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; BAY; Airlines/Aviation industry
April 1998 – April 2001 (3 years 1 month)


Brands & Product Development Marketing Executive British Airways
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; BAY; Airlines/Aviation industry
October 1996 – March 1998 (1 year 6 months)

Responsible for the design and delivery of new product developments and brands’ initiatives, to enhance the customer experience on-board the aircraft. All initiatives required multi-disciplined teams to be set-up and success depended on the team effort.
Engineering Positions (Various)
British Airways
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; BAY; Airlines/Aviation industry
July 1992 – October 1996 (4 years 4 months)

Various roles covered including 747 Line Maintenance, Aircraft Support Workshops & Landing Gear Overhaul.
Sponsored Engineering Undergraduate
British Airways
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; BAY; Airlines/Aviation industry
September 1988 – July 1992 (3 years 11 months)

Thin-sandwich engineering degree programme, interspersed with training periods across British Airways Engineering.

[Keke Napep]

There's a lot happening in more than just the offshore helicopter industry at the moment.

The UNHCR is reporting increasing levels of atrocities in the there northeastern states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno where the Nigerian army and air force are losing their battle against Boko Haram who are receiving increasing amounts of weapons being smuggled in through northern Cameroon as a result of the civil war in Central African Republic. UNHCR estimates that nearly 60,000 people have fled from the Nigerian states into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram don't care about the atrocities they commit against schoolchildren. It's all just more publicity for them, a way of ramping up the level of terror and a significant threat to the Presidential elections next year.

It's so bad that even the recently appointed Minister of Defence Aliyu Gusau has resigned after the newly appointed military top brass refused to meet with him.

Mr. Gusau’s sudden decision to quit President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet arose from what the former minister considered an act of insubordination and indiscipline from Nigeria’s top military brass.

Several sources at the Defense Ministry told SaharaReporters that Nigeria’s top military officers yesterday refused to have a joint meeting with Mr. Gusau and his deputy, Musikilu Obanikoro, a former senator.

Sources at the ministry told SaharaReporters that Nigeria’s top military henchmen kept Mr. Gusau waiting for two days after he summoned them to a meeting, with different military service chiefs making excuses for their inability to meet with him and his deputy immediately. Finally, the situation turned testy yesterday when, after keeping Mr. Gusau and Mr. Obanikoro waiting for several hours, the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, showed up alone for a meeting.

“When Air Marshal Badeh showed up, the Minister of Defense told him he was expecting all the chiefs of staff within the military, but Badeh reportedly told him there was no need,” said one source at the ministry. Our sources added that Badeh also told Mr. Gusau that he alone would be meeting with the minister as the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), stating that this arrangement was the collective decision of military officers in the country.

One source said an attempt by the junior minister of defense, Mr. Obanikoro, to intervene was rudely brushed aside as Badeh asked him to “shut up.” “Air Marshal Badeh is said to have called Senator Obanikoro a ‘small boy’ and warned him that the military was not going to be taking orders anymore from bloody civilians like him,” one source stated.

Soon after the altercation, General Gusau (rtd) reportedly ended the meeting and asked the Permanent Secretary in the ministry to transmit his letter of resignation to President Goodluck Jonathan.


Jonathan is increasingly being shown as just another corrupt kleptocrat continuing the shameful practices of his thieving predecessors as a recent article in our newspaper Business Day reported

Anti-corruption in Nigeria: A fickle fight without fists

One disturbing and regrettable fact of Nigeria’s history is that the nation’s fortunes in 53 years of nationhood have been adversely affected by an unhindered reign of public sector corruption. But what is more irritating and which spells a collapse of the ethos upon which proper governments are founded is the likelihood that this pervading and monumental menace is being condoned by the Nigerian government.

The 2013 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria prepared by the United States Department of State, recently made public, noted without equivocation that “although the law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engage in corrupt practices with impunity”. The report further declared that “the anticorruption efforts of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) remained largely ineffectual”.

The report went on to allege that the Nigerian government is targeting only public officials who were out of favour for corruption charges and leaving out those in their good books.

The findings of this report, though not novel, reaffirm the public perception about the anti-corruption fight of Jonathan’s administration.

Analysts and observers believe that the fight against public sector corruption under the current federal government lacks bite and fire, allowing free reign for kleptocracy.

Recently, a senior EFCC official cried out that the Commission had a lean treasury which points to its increasing inability to engage in active anti-corruption operations. Is this a deliberate ploy to tame the Commission and put it in check?

Nothing gives better credence to the lacklustre attitude to anti-corruption under Jonathan than the manner he gave a state pardon to Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in March 2013, after he was convicted of embezzling state monies to the tune of $10 million; Alamieyeseigha is still wanted in the United Kingdom over money laundering charges. Add the President’s incredible

Centenary award to late military ruler, Sanni Abacha, whose stupendous loot is still at large across the globe. Indeed, it has been reported that the United States of America just froze $458m of Abacha’s loot held in the US.

Nigerians have raised their voices and pens against this move that appears to create models out of those whose conduct has been adjudged reprehensible.

We believe that in societies where leaders’ consciences are pricked, especially when issues are raised over their continued commitment to proper governance and conduct of state affairs, there would have been a quick response by government to the grave issues raised in the US report and the weighty allegation suggesting an insincere commitment by government to anti corruption fight.

The government of Jonathan has neither offered a convincing rebuttal nor even an acceptance of its limitations in this regard. That neither of these has happened confirms an unwholesome tradition that encourages our government to treat critical issues of governance with kid gloves. And it confirms that this government after all is not focused on fighting corruption.

When governments routinely shirk its responsibility of preserving the moral fibre that puts human society in order, rewarding good and sanctioning wrong, it loses its representative authority to direct the affairs of society, and thus become an imposition, a repressive institution that serves the interest of oppressors.

This attitude of government soils the reputation of the nation at home and abroad and ensures that the holder of the green passport is looked on with shame and odium around the world.

We urge the federal government to shed the disdainful toga of a government that encourages corruption by empowering all anti-corruption agencies to operate according to their mandates, and indeed step up the fight against an evil that threatens the future of our commonwealth.


Things are likely to get increasingly unstable and dangerous as the elections draw closer with political infighting translating into violence on the streets and Boko Haram seeking to capitalise on this to destabilise our country further. :uhoh::mad::(

[birdieinthesky]

Compensation Information for Jonathan E. Baliff , Sr. VP & CFO of BRISTOW GROUP INC | Salary.com (http://www1.salary.com/Jonathan-E-Baliff-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-BRISTOW-GROUP-INC.html)

Bristow executives salary packages .. Now we know why the pilots are not paid deservingly

[helipiloto]

It has become known that some Bristow Nigeria pilots received big bonuses last christmass. These bonuses were as big as an extra monthly salary. I wonder what criteria they used to give out these. In fact, most probably only Akin, I mean the person handing them out, knew the criteria used to determined who deserved a bonus.
In the mean time, the rest of us mediocre pilots, continue to put up with living conditions below the poverty threshold and picking up all the broken pieces left by our incompetent managers. Without our high capability to perform regardless of what is thrown at us daily and our expected "flexibility" and "team player" attitude, Bristow Nigeria would just be another african helicopter operator.....

[Ainippe]

"Bristow executives salary packages .. Now we know why the pilots are not paid deservingly"

I really dont see what the gripe is? He does a job you could not do, the company is in good shape in fact better than it has ever been and you have a job - enough said.

people will always whinge about pay and what they think they are worth, it is human nature - however what they think they are worth and what they are actually worth could be two different things.:{

[Phone Wind]

In the mean time, the rest of us mediocre pilots, continue to put up with living conditions below the poverty threshold and picking up all the broken pieces left by our incompetent managers. Without our high capability to perform regardless of what is thrown at us daily and our expected "flexibility" and "team player" attitude, Bristow Nigeria would just be another african helicopter operator.....

Hmmmm ..... living conditions below the poverty line := . Even as a 'mediocre' pilot, I'm sure your salary is well in excess of $120,000 per annum, you get 6 months leave a year, a company pension scheme, personal accident insurance, private health insurance, loss of licence insurance a room with an en-suite bathroom, standby generator when you're in Nigeria in a compound with free internet (okay, maybe not great internet, but we're talking about Nigeria!), at least a swimming pool and quite likely gymnasium, and possibly tennis or squash available. Poverty line, don't make me :} . Get out and see what life is like for the majority of the Nigerian people - oh, ok, you're in a secure compound and can't :ooh:. Well, most of them aren't :\ .

Bristow Nigeria IS just be another African helicopter operator..... There was a time they were special, but that's long gone, now just another big corporation where mediocrity (not upsetting the boat) is well rewarded. Just see which Nigerian oil and gas operator has had the largest number of wrong deck landings in the last 3 years and tell me all about how superior Bristow is. Yes, they may have better integrity as a company than some of the 'indigenous' companies, but I don't think they can claim the high ground when it comes to operating standards any more.

Before, you get all upset, I totally agree that they're just like every other company these days and use employee 'flexibility' to cover up poor management's inability to run an effective roster.

[melmothtw]

On the subject of rotorheads and Nigeria...

Nigerian Navy considers surplus Sea Knight and Seasprite helos - IHS Jane's 360 (http://www.janes.com/article/35527/nigerian-navy-considers-surplus-sea-knight-and-seasprite-helos)

[helipiloto]

"Bristow Nigeria IS just be another African helicopter operator...."

Exactly my point. Bristow's got people at the top who can't even write properly.

Let me explain what I meant when I wrote "living conditions below the poverty line." In a company where its top managers make 6 and 7 figure bonuses how do you explain to a plain pilot the following situations: You wake up in the middle of the night with a foot of water in your room because the pipes burst (pipes don't just burst, but if you use the cheapest possible pipes and cheapest possible plummer, they may do). Try sleeping through that one! What are you supposed to do when you find a rat bone in your food? What about when the ceiling in your room collapses on your bed because the guy in the room above you has had a flood in his room? Shall I continue? I know that this is Nigeria so what can you expect, right? Unfortunately for us bottom feeders that excuse gets used way too often and management just gets away with everything. It is not my fault and I'm sorry that poor nigerian people have to put up with such corruption that their polititians and VIPs take away their money in truck loads (I've seen it with my own eyes how private jets are loaded with bags of money from armoured vehicles) while they don't even have running water!!!

As for the other benefits you mention such as loss of licence insurance or health insurance, yes they look good when written on a contract don't they? I would not "put them to the test" however, you might get the "well this is Nigeria" excuse and find that there is nothing there after all.

If things were as wonderful as you describe them people would stay here for a long time. Why is time spent working in Nigeria meassured in "dog years" and someone who has been here 7 or 10 years can talk about it as if he were a Vietnam war veteran?

[SASless]

I generally lived better in Vietnam than I did in Nigeria. Port Harcourt and the infamous Colditz that sat adjacent to the CP and TC's luxury compound is a good example.

As to all the insurance and such.....does Bristow still use "BIAGLE"?

[GoodGrief]

Exactly my point. Bristow's got people at the top who can't even write properly.

'Equator' is spelt with a 'q'. :p

[soggyboxers]

Helipiloto,
Oh good grief, I have no particular love for Bristow and I worked for them, Schreiner, CHC and Caverton during my years in Nigeria.
I very much doubt that you woke up with a foot of water in your room as the doors are normally so badly fitting that floods quickly drain away. Burst pipes are scarcely Bristow's fault; there are shoddy standards all over Africa.
When I was with Schreiner/Aero I really did wake up with nearly a foot of water on the floor, but that was because our accommodation was on an estate which flooded every rainy season because of poor drainage in that part of Warri. We often used to give that house up for weeks at a time and had to walk to the staff house either wearing wellingtons or roll up our trousers because of the water depth.
When I moved into my brand new Caverton apartment in Lagos, a lot of electrical appliances burnt out on day 1 due to faulty wiring and I watched as water streamed out of the bathroom wall and all the plaster fall off because of a badly connected pipe behind it. Even a few months ago when I moved into my brand new Chinese-built apartment in Dar es Salaam (paid for by me, not my company), I returned from work on my first day to see water pouring onto the bedroom floor making a delightful scale model of Lake Tanganyika :} and the plaster peeling off bedroom wall because of a faulty pipe. The first week in my rand new apartment in the block built for the Shell Pension Fund trustees at Elelenwo, the central air conditioning stopped functioning. In my apartment in Woji the water was suddenly replaced by a foul green slime coming out of the taps. I've lived in some dreadful accommodation in different parts of Africa (and yes, the BRC, which should have been bulldozed and replaced years ago counts among the worst), but the best I live in during my time in Nigeria was the Bristow accommodation when we were still in Elelenwo (that was also the safest until the decision was made to move to far less secure accommodation, supposedly to cut journey time, but really as everyone knew, to save money).
I even had to move rooms in a hotel in West Palm Beach when I was there doing sim training with CHC as there was a flood in the room above mine and the water was coming through the ceiling! BTW, plumber is spelt with a 'b'.
It's just Africa and if you can't cope with a minor thing like that, you're probably working on the wrong continent.
When you find a bone you think is from a rat in your food, you keep it to make sure it's identified as a rat and make a complaint. Some of my best meals in Warri were in local restaurants (in the days when it was still safe to go out) and I found grass cutter (bush rat) to be tasty and nutritious :).
I found the health insurance (when it was with AXA/PPP) to be excellent and easy to use on the several occasions I had need to use it. Local medical facilities in Nigeria are mostly well below western standards, but Bristow does have emergency medical repatriation insurance. I'm not sure if they still have a contract with SOS International in Port Harcourt, which is an excellent facility for immediate paramedical treatment and preparing people for medical evacuation flights. I don't know how well the loss of licence insurance works.
When I was made redundant by Bristow last year, all the money in the Bristow pension scheme was paid to me within 8 weeks of my departure. The company 7% contribution made it well worth while.
I mostly enjoyed my time in Nigeria, though it's not such fun now because of all the curfews due to MEND and Boko Haram activity mean that most people are effectively on a 24 hour curfew. I survived 3 attempted hijackings, 3 attempted kidnappings, but then again I was mugged on my first night in Douala too. The extra allowances paid in Nigeria are the recompense for the added hardship and danger. I'd quite happily go back.
SAS,
Yes BHNL does still use BIAGL, though at present new hires from USA are employed by another company.

[212man]

Soggy,
I think you have responed to Good Grief erroneously, but I agree with your sentiment about Helipiloto. Mind you, on another thread he suggested that 85,000 GBP for a new hire Bond Captain was a joke of a salary - depite being in the 95-97th percentile of UK salaries.....(and only working half the year too)

[birdieinthesky]

Fire at Bristows New Hangar in PHC .. Thank god no life lost .. Unfortunately one Super Puma burnt lost.

[onwings]

Bristow Hangar Fire Confirmed

[Phone Wind]

The main thing is that nobody seems to have been hurt. :D

I don't know if damage has been done to the 2 new hangars, but I would have thought that cheap fabric hangars must be much more susceptible to fire damage than traditional metal ones. :=

Two Super Pumas lost I heard. Also heard that the fire started from one of the two which was on a check. Lots of stores lost to fire too. The big problem seems to have been that the Bristow staff present were incapable of dealing with the fire alone and things could have been much worse if they hadn't had a lot of help from their adjoining neighbours from Caverton and Aero.

Let's see if the 'just culture' prevails in view of the instruction from Akin Oni that nothing must be discussed or posted on the internet until the outcome of the internal inquiry :ooh:. With Port Harcourt rumoured to be the 'whistleblower capital of Bristow, I wonder if the number of anonymous reports will increase?

Many people have said that the 2 Super Pumas were just a problem, possibly because they're only 332L2s in the Bristow inventory worldwide, but I'm sure most people wouldn't want to see this as being a solution to the problem. It's a shame, because they did sterling work in Norway.

Total are sure to start some kind of a witch hunt because that's their way :ugh:. Strange, because they always give preference to French machines (or European machines if they can't get French). This won't be good for future Total contracts with Bristow.

[Keke Napep]

I bet many of the expats here wish the fire had hurt nobody, but been in the BRC :E. I don't understand why Akin's getting involved in telling us to keep quiet when I thought all buildings and engineering facilities supposedly come under BATS and are the responsibility of Tufty?:confused::E

[Boudreaux Bob]

A case of Jewish Lightning?:E

[onwings]

Managing fire is not about how much line you can pound or your pack test time, but how well you make the bureaucratic end run:E

[onwings]

Talking about VIP's and Stupendous Bonuses, I wonder if any bonus will go to WASBU this year:}

[Good Vibs]

Who's first with the photos?

[AS332L1]

I have seen one:{

[Mama Mangrove]

Obviously nobody left in Bristow with any cojones then as shown by lack of any replies or photos. They never did have a just culture, except as 2 words in a 'jobsworth' manual. Ask PG about commercial pressure driving internal company decisions :yuk:. It's still the same old Bristow only worse with a Bob Suggs attitude to pilots. There aren't 3 companies (BHNL, PAAN, BATS), just Bristow as everybody knows, but to say anything else is to admit to the elephant in the room. Is this the SAGS legacy or was it always like this?
For me, the admitted result could be a turning point. Bill Chiles is going, the rest of the 'real' old guard have gone, the thrusting money men are in the ascendancy and who knows what is to come? The last of the entrepreneurs has gone to be totally replaced by numbers men. All empires eventually topple

[Boudreaux Bob]

The SAGS Legacy? HUH?

[Keke Napep]

One of the L2s has been destroyed, the L1 will probably need to go to Aberdeen for repair, hangar badly damaged and the stores destroyed (rumoured $11 million worth!). The sprinkler system had been turned off - let's see how just the just culture is now!

[TukTuk BoomBoom]

...wouldn't be the first fire in the NAF storeroom...

[Boudreaux Bob]

Inventory due just after the fire?

[AS332L1]

BNC looks like its been in an oven the RHS a nice shade of brown

[heli1]

RHS ??? Can't find that!

[Phone Wind]

RHS Right hand side :ugh:

Rumour has it that nobody thought about getting a standby generator wired in to the new hangar to power the sprinkler system in the event if the loss of mains!:rolleyes:

But Bristow are the industry leaders in Target Zero, value added, and lots of other salesman-sounding phrases to sell you a new product even if under the skin it's not what you thought. Quality ..... safety ....... zero (oh, sorry, Target Zero!)

[heli1]

Thanks PW!
I was confused by the suggestion two aircraft were damaged.

[AS332L1]

sorry RHS = Right Hand Side:cool: been in this game far too long lol

[heli1]

It was always starboard in my day.......but back to my question...one aircraft or two damaged?

[pohm1]

Two. An L2 and an L.

P1

[Keke Napep]

One damaged as in - written off, the other may be worth repairing

[unstable load]

Had they even finished plumbing in the sprinkler system yet? I remember seeing blokes on a cherry picker doing the pipe strangling work just recently.

[Stuart Hughes]

In aviation, always thought RHS/LHS referred to the front seating positions? :ugh:

[Tony Mabelis]

Correct designation of front seats...........VIP1 & VIP2 according to my old flight attendants!!
Tony

[helipiloto]

Bristow's local management continue their "cheap" approach of running things down there so they can secure their bonuses and exhorbitant salaries.
Pilots are now travelling home via the cheapest available tickets. This means adding an extra leg or two to your route. Also will have to start doing change over on weekends, meaning pilots will loose 2 weekends at home with the family every rotation. Last year there was a false glimpse of the company trying to improve accomodation, however now accomodation is back on a downward spiral and getting worse by the minute: Power outages now last hours instead of minutes, pipes continue to burst, roofs continue to leak, windows are badly fitted which allows mosquitoes to get in and lots of people getting sick from malaria...
Pilots have also started flying to the sim either on time off and not getting leave or pay in return for these days lost, or travelling to sim the day of, meaning you land from and long flight from Lagos to where your sim is and then doing your test just 3 or 4 hours later. Local pilots are also being cheated out of allowances or work over when, for example, they get called on a day off and do not get paid because in the end the client cancels the flight last minute.
Meanwhile management and a few hand picked pilots get bonuses which nobody is supposed to know about until, ofcourse, somebody slips up and then everyone knows. Or when the chief pilot in Lagos puts himself on night standby illegally after having worked all day or on time off so the he can get work over pay for it (apparently he makes in excess of 250 K USD/year!.... net)
But hey! I am not complaining! I feel great when I wear my target zero hat or my "are you ok" t-shirt. When you are so lucky that a huge hangar fire is put out by your neighbour because your fire hoses don't work or when taxiing a helicopter you run into a pot hole, collapse the front wheel and still choose to continue taxiing with pax on board and nothing happens to you I say to myself: this target zero bull**** really works!!!

[Boudreaux Bob]

Sounds exactly like the days of the Raj when the Majah was in his ascendency.:E

[Joker's Wild]

Bristow's local management continue their "cheap" approach of running things down there so they can secure their bonuses and exhorbitant salaries.
Pilots are now travelling home via the cheapest available tickets. This means adding an extra leg or two to your route. Also will have to start doing change over on weekends, meaning pilots will loose 2 weekends at home with the family every rotation. Last year there was a false glimpse of the company trying to improve accomodation, however now accomodation is back on a downward spiral and getting worse by the minute: Power outages now last hours instead of minutes, pipes continue to burst, roofs continue to leak, windows are badly fitted which allows mosquitoes to get in and lots of people getting sick from malaria...
Pilots have also started flying to the sim either on time off and not getting leave or pay in return for these days lost, or travelling to sim the day of, meaning you land from and long flight from Lagos to where your sim is and then doing your test just 3 or 4 hours later. Local pilots are also being cheated out of allowances or work over when, for example, they get called on a day off and do not get paid because in the end the client cancels the flight last minute.
Meanwhile management and a few hand picked pilots get bonuses which nobody is supposed to know about until, ofcourse, somebody slips up and then everyone knows. Or when the chief pilot in Lagos puts himself on night standby illegally after having worked all day or on time off so the he can get work over pay for it (apparently he makes in excess of 250 K USD/year!.... net)
But hey! I am not complaining! I feel great when I wear my target zero hat or my "are you ok" t-shirt. When you are so lucky that a huge hangar fire is put out by your neighbour because your fire hoses don't work or when taxiing a helicopter you run into a pot hole, collapse the front wheel and still choose to continue taxiing with pax on board and nothing happens to you I say to myself: this target zero bull**** really works!!!

Sh!t.....I had to do a serious double-take there.....for a moment I figured we were describing the hummingbird!!! Doh!!! :E

[TIMTS]

I remember being told that travel cost was out of control, and that we had to reign in spending on airline tickets, when we were already using seaman's tickets that we can't legally use. The tickets were accompanied by a letter stating we work on the Noble Lloyd Noble.

I asked where we could reign in expenses, when the tickets were so cheap they were illegal...accompanied by a letter falsifying our employment status...and by the way, how does this fit into COBI?

[alouette]

Well, what can one say…? :D

[helipiloto]

Well put friend. However, Im afraid COBI, Target Zero, Stop Work Authority, etc are all cheap slogans and catch phrases that they can put on their brochures to hand to clients and look good and win contracts. If during an audit (as it has happened before) these standards fail then you can rely on the infallible "well, its Nigeria, what do you expect". But the amount of s*^t that goes on in the back stage is endless.

[SirKORSKY]

Travel on the actual airplane is now the least of it, (when CWL don't screw-up your original TR submitted well in advance!); how about the 3 hour wait at PHC on a bus in the parking-lot?

[TIMTS]

Waited for 3hrs + one day, and when the final domestic flight from Lagos finally arrived our driver had gone to Genesis for something to eat!
He was quickly returned to his seat...

[SirKORSKY]

Drivers are a law onto their own and Journey Management is a joke! (Security so-called is an even larger laugh-riot at BHNL; unless of course you're a National and then you can Toyota yourself to NAF, although AO says it's against the rules?) Funnier & stranger than a "Seinfeld" episode. :)

[MamaPut]

Not just journey management. When we lived in Elelenwo and had SOS clinic, at least accommodation was fairly secure. Now that money has been saved and we live in our separate little enclaves we're just easy targets when the $hit hits the fan. NAF Base is just a shambles :ugh:

[SirKORSKY]

You know there's such a "cult of personality" around the national-CP. If you're not one of his bottom-kissers then you shudder @ flying-roster + definitely know the weekend is not OFF! (Not forgetting his manipulation of accommodation?)

Vote with your feet for sure! Nigeria is a misery, but no point making it worse by bitching about it 28 days in a row. The meaning of life is making life meaningful; definitely too short and surprising to spend one more day @ NAF swallowing CP excrement! (He who hits rigs, circles, then lands?)

[Phone Wind]

Not everything is going badly in Nigeria :}


Nigeria Supporters club demand 62million condoms for 2014 World Cup

The Nigeria Football and other Sports Supporters Club (NFSSC), are demanding for about 62 million condoms to be made available to fans, ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

This was disclosed by Rafiu Ladipo, who is the President-General of NFSSC, while appealing to the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) to take their request seriously.

UNAIDS Country Director, Bilali Camara, had said two million condoms would be provided for the entire duration of the competition, but Ladipo insisted that UNAIDS need to provide two million condoms for each of the 31 days of the World Cup.

“Of all football loving fans all around the world, I alone will be taking over 10,000 fans to Brazil, not only from Nigeria,” he said.

“You know that Nigeria will be playing their first three matches and there is going to be a match between Nigeria and Argentina.

“By the time we play that match, we will regard it as the match that will also qualify us to play Brazil in Rio de Janeiro during the final.

“If that is achieved, we want to be protected; we must be protected.

“So, I want to urge you (UNAIDS) to provide more condoms.”

Ladipo explained that fans who might want to have sex after their daily assignment in Brazil, would need the condoms for protection.

Nigeria is grouped alongside Iran, Argentina and Bosnia in Group F.

[SirKORSKY]

Dummies making more dummies

[Phone Wind]

Here are 2 interesting blogs by Jideofor Adibe, a senior lecturer in political science at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria, and adjunct associate professor in the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy, Baze University, Abuja. They give an explanation of the emergence of Boko Haram and Ansaru and possible trajectories of the Boko Haram conflict, some of which are quite worrying even for those living in the Niger Delta area, particularly with campaigning for the 2015 elections well under way and a lot more weapons entering the country.

Explaining the Emergence of Boko Haram and Ansaru (http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2014/05/06-emergence-of-boko-haram-adibe)
possible Trajectories of the Boko Haram Conflict in Nigeria (http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-focus/posts/2014/05/09-trajectories-boko-haram-conflict-nigeria-adibe)

[Phone Wind]

There are reports on the BBC that more than 118 people are so far confirmed dead in 2 bomb blasts, 20 minutes apart, in Jos, the first by a busy market, the second outside a nearby hospital. A NEMA official says that the final death toll is expected to be nearer to 200 :mad:

Jos Bombings Kill More than 100 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27493940)


Meanwhile this morning at least 30 villagers were killed and several others injured as gunmen attacked Shawa village in Borno State. The attack on the village, which is about 25km away from Damboa town, took place at about 4am when the gunmen crept upon sleeping villagers, shooting and setting houses ablaze with petrol bombs. A resident of Shawa village who managed to escape the killings said the gunmen continually chanted "Allahu akbar" (God is great) while shooting sporadically.

The countries that attended the security summit on Boko Haram in France last weekend "have agreed that each country will contribute one battalion of troops to the international force set up to patrol the border areas, in line with the Resolution of the Lake Chad Basin Commission".

[Keke Napep]

Life in Bristow Nigeria looks as if it's going to be what might be termed interesting . The Head of Flight Operations is due to retire in less than 3 months with rumors that yet again Houston will 'parachute' in a replacement (well we all know how well that went don't we :\ ? Rumor also has it that our new deputy Head of Flight Operations is off to greener pastures with an IOC and with no Training Manager around there looks to be a severe cutback in leadership - not that there's been much of any leadership around here since BS was forced out :ugh:
Looks as if it might be time to revisit Caverton or Atlantic/CHC

[212man]

Rumor also has it that our new deputy Head of Flight Operations is off to greener pastures with an IOC

Which one?

[Keke Napep]

Which one?

An American one with a name like a corporal's stripes :}

[212man]

Ah, makes sense - not the first then! If that's OO, good for him.....:ok:

[Keke Napep]

Not OO, he's Country Manager.

[Keke Napep]

Bristow Group, Inc. ( BRS ), a provider of helicopter services to the offshore energy industry, on Wednesday reported a 25 percent decline in profit for the fourth quarter from last year as double-digit revenue growth was more than offset by impairment charges. In addition, the prior-year quarter's results benefited from a hefty gain on disposal of assets.


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However, both revenue and adjusted earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' estimates and the company raised its quarterly dividend by 28 percent. Looking ahead, the company forecast earnings for fiscal 2015 below Street expectations.

The Houston, Texas-based company's net income for the fourth quarter was $30.32 million or $0.83 per share, down from $40.38 million or $1.11 per share in the same period last year.

The latest quarter's results include impairment of inventories of $10.54 million related to aircraft model types that the company has ceased ownership of, or plans to dispose of, over the next two years. A majority of this impairment relates to a medium aircraft type being replaced by new technology models, and an increase in insurance expense of $8.57 million due to a fire in a hangar in Nigeria.

Additionally, results were impacted by a gain on disposal of assets of assets of $0.1 million for the latest quarter, compared to a gain of $7.25 million in the previous-year quarter.

Excluding special items and asset disposition effects, adjusted net income for the quarter were $49.13 million or $1.35 per share, compared to $36.74 million or $1.01 per share in the year-ago period. On average, eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.23 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter grew 13 percent to $440.93 million from $391.64 million in the year-ago period. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $438.80 million.

The company recorded a $41.4 million increase in operating revenue at its Europe business unit, primarily driven by Bristow Helicopters' acquisition of Eastern Airways in February 2014 and Gap SAR, or Search and Rescue, contract beginning in June and July 2013.

For fiscal 2014, Bristow Group's net income rose to $186.74 million or $5.09 per share from $130.10 million or $3.57 per share in the previous year. Adjusted net income for the year was $163.18 million or $4.45 per share, compared to $137.85 million or $3.78 per share in the prior year.

Revenue for the year grew 11 percent to $1.67 billion from $1.51 billion last year.

Street expected the company to report earnings of $4.34 per share for the year on revenues of $1.63 billion.

Bristow Group's board of directors on May 16 raised the quarterly dividend by 28 percent to $0.32 per share, from $0.25 per share previously. The dividend will be be paid on June 19, 2014 to shareholders of record on June 5, 2014, and is more than double the first quarterly dividend paid in June 2011.

In February 2014, the board had approved an increase of the remaining repurchase amount of the company's common stock to up to $100 million through November 5, 2014. As of May 16, 2014, the company had $46.5 million of remaining repurchase authority.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, Bristow Group forecast adjusted earnings in a range of $4.70 to $5.20 per share. Analysts currently expect full-year earnings of $5.28 per share.

Jonathan Baliff, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bristow Group said, "The ability for Bristow to deliver on our annual financial guidance these past number of years and more than double our quarterly dividend in the face of industry challenges reinforces our confidence in the previously provided long term average adjusted earnings growth rate of 10-15% per year and the adjusted EPS guidance range for fiscal year 2015 of $4.70 to $5.20 that we are providing today."

BRS closed Wednesday's trading at $74.54, up $0.53 or 0.72 percent on a volume of 452,023 shares.


Read more: Bristow Group Q4 Profit Down 25%, But Results Beat View, Hikes Dividend - NASDAQ.com (http://www.nasdaq.com/article/bristow-group-q4-profit-down-25-but-results-beat-view-hikes-dividend-20140521-01315#ixzz32RVf7JEe)



I guess no bonus for anyone in Nigeria this year then - except management of course :\

[212man]

I guess no bonus for anyone in Nigeria this year then - except management of course

don't bonus, we'll bone you.......:E

[Boudreaux Bob]

an increase in insurance expense of $8.57 million due to a fire in a hangar in Nigeria.


Sounds like they should have just paid the repair costs and written off the Aircraft expense....it would have been cheaper than paying Increased Premiums for several Years.

Not that a bit of prevention and adequate planning to ensure the Fire Protection Plan was effective and capable of preventing such a loss to begin with.

[SirKORSKY]

Good riddance to HoFO; he's been a joke since the start. (Memos about reduced visibility during Harmattan & visits to PH for free pizza is all us "troops" have ever seen?)

AO leaving guts most of the Training experience and any common-sense in Lagos; good luck to him!

AGIP should be pretty entertaining with one Base Manager retiring June 4th and the other right behind him?

Get those hands-up for the SVN; oh wait there are none! (Got to get the fix in over there before publishing one right?)

[meanttobe]

Caverton wins contract extension, expects new aircraft - Nigeria pilot (http://nigerianpilot.com/caverton-wins-contract-extension-expects-new-aircraft/)

[Tea Bag]

Caverton has won a two-year contract extension with Total and Production Nigeria Limited and is expecting a brand new AW139 which will be devoted to its long-term contract with Shell.

LOL, believe it when I see it mate. :hmm:

[Tea Bag]

Competition for Caverton - Atlantic Aviation commences AW139 commercial helicopter flights for Shell. Helicopter-services operator Atlantic Aviation, is one of the world’s leading providers of high-quality transportation to offshore O&G producers.

[Tormas]

Aircraft seen yesterday at Agusta Westland Italy - so guess it's coming

[Dreviator]

Looking for the contact info for the chief pilot at Pan African airlines in Nigeria
Name and email would be appreciated
PM or response on the thread
Thanks in advance

[Keke Napep]

Bristow Nigeria has gone totally to the dogs in the last 9 months. As someone said, NAF is run by a clique of people who believe leadership should be a personality cult thing with the best succkers-up gettingb the perks :mad:. The only legacy of the present HoFO will be the powder blue flight suits. BS held things together and if you listen to the management lies, he decided to retire (like hell), RA was one of the few sensible and balanced people in PH, now he's gone, 'Uncle Bob' supposedly retired but now he's struggling to get by elsewhere, AO is going effectively leaving nobody running ops or training. In fact nobody is running anything any more :uhoh:. Wacko Jacko is sailing the ship of state over the edge of a big waterfall and Caverton and Atlantic will definitely be the ones benefitting from the fall. I've already seen Caverton's new AW139 and Atlantic will also definitely get a lot more work over the next year.
It's going to be interesting to see if Bristow manage to hold on to Eket after all these years. After all, they lost Shell a few years back. Houston will probably send in the cavalry, but if it's the same as the last time they did that it'll be another disaster.
For those of us sticking around, it'll just mean flying in a helicopter with a different colour scheme and hoping that our new employer pays on time. :rolleyes:

[Boudreaux Bob]

Well....it supposed to be an All Nigerian Firm, owned by, run by, and employing Nigerians in Nigeria overseen by the Nigerian CAA contracting services to Nigerian Oil Companies.

What possibly could go wrong?

[SirKORSKY]

My sources @ ExxonMobil say BRISTOW will keep Eket. And that's where I'm heading as soon as it's announced! :ok:

[Keke Napep]

Oh yeah, Eket. The place you have to fly to work if you don't want to get shot! I'm sure your sources in Exxon Mobil aren't going to let anything out - probably because they don't know :roll eyes:.

Meanwhile, I see our beloved President is gathering accolades worldwide for his handling go the missing schoolgirls and allowing our country to be taken over by Boko Haram and Ansaru :ugh:


Boko Haram has exposed Jonathan’s ineptitude

WHO’s afraid of Boko Haram? It would appear that the Nigerian government of Goodluck Jonathan is. It has demonstrated rank incompetence and callous indifference to the recent kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by the militant group.

Boko Haram has already killed about 5,000 civilians since 2009. This situation raises fundamental questions about the ability of Nigeria’s political elite to protect its own corporate interests. The state is becoming a crippled Leviathan unable to exert a monopoly of the use of force over its own territory: perhaps the greatest indictment of a leadership that has often confused kleptocratic avarice with democratic governance.

The government has failed woefully even to develop an effective communication strategy to deal with this crisis. Its crude attempt to focus global attention on the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Nigeria’s new status as Africa’s largest economy backfired spectacularly. The WEF was entirely overshadowed by the sad case of the missing girls. This situation shone a harsh light on the Nigerian government, exposing the poverty of thought and action in Abuja. With the eyes of the world glued on Nigeria, Jonathan’s administration did not cover itself in glory.

"Boko Haram" translates as "western education is a sin". The Salafist militants are living embodiments of the grievances of an impoverished northern Nigeria, where poverty rates are 15% higher than in the south. They have ties with jihadists in Somalia and Mali, and seek to implement sharia law throughout Nigeria. Their actions have been reminiscent of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army, which wants to implement the biblical 10 commandments, in their atavism, and similar to the nihilism of the Mozambique National Resistance.

Jonathan’s accepting US surveillance and intelligence assistance could be politically dangerous for him. It is a humiliating sign of the weakness of his own army, which has struggled with equipment, and logistical and other capabilities, not just in battling Boko Haram in Nigeria’s volatile northeast, but in conducting United Nations peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Sudan’s Darfur region. The $6bn annual security budget is clearly not reaching the army.

The military has ruled Nigeria for 39 of its 54 years of independent statehood. Its often talented officers have traditionally claimed to be the guardians of national unity, intervening in politics to save the country from the decadence of corrupt politicians (though venal military regimes between 1985 and 1998 saw grotesque levels of corruption). The army will surely be seething at Jonathan’s decision to bring in western experts.

One of Jonathan’s predecessors, Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), recently criticised him for turning to foreign assistance. One should, however, remember that Obasanjo’s army chief, the respected Victor Malu, had, in 2001, criticised the president’s own decision to bring in Americans to train the Nigerian army, noting that this action compromised national security. Malu later raised eyebrows by expressing regret at not having staged a coup against Obasanjo.

A period of silence from Obasanjo — who has criticised all of his successors and suffers from messianic delusions — would be welcome. It is also important to note that Obasanjo’s own presidency failed to professionalise and re-equip the Nigerian army. The dangers of intimacy that Malu raised in 2001 still exist today. No one should be under any illusions that US drones flying over Nigeria will collect information only about missing schoolgirls. The fact that Jonathan chose to attend a summit on Boko Haram in Paris, rather than organising one in West Africa, is another sign of a failure of leadership.

If Nigeria really was a regional superpower, why would it need the president of France to bring it together with Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon? This is the same France that had sought to dismember Nigeria during the country’s civil war of 1967-70, and has more recently sent troops to Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, both members of the Nigeria-created Economic Community of West African States. France recently announced that it would send an additional 3,000 troops mostly to West Africa, meaning that nearly 10,000 French troops could soon be deployed on the continent. When policy makers in Abuja awake from their deep slumber, they will find themselves encircled by foreign interests that will surely constrain Nigeria’s projection of power in its own region.

The lack of strategic thinking in Abuja is not only alarming, but reverses 40 years of foreign and security policy. Jonathan must hope that a good showing by Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the Soccer World Cup in Brazil will be a welcome distraction from the Boko Haram debacle. He has, however, scored one of the most spectacular own goals in his inept and disastrous handling of this crisis.

[SirKORSKY]

Sarcasm: the lowest form of wit. :D

Flying to work at Eket is year's long over-reaction to the hijacking attempt back in 2008. Many times over the years crew traveled by road on EXM buses during "exigent" circumstances. At this point, it's simply another source of revenue flying that should surely stop with a contract renewal.

Even the dumbest criminal would surely kidnap EXM employees as they habitually pay ransom and Bristow could care less or taking Armor Group's advice launch a retrieval attempt of their own with water-pistols blazing!

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

SirKORSKY,

I was on the bus when the "hijacking attempt" took place. Having survived various hazards during my 15 years in the Army, without reservation I can confidently attest that was the most frightening and stressful incident I have ever been unfortunate enough to be involved in, and I wasn't one of the guys who got shot.

The few (very few) people still working for Bristow who were on the bus and who I see from time to time all admit to suffering various PTSD issues. The guy who got shot in the leg will never work, let alone fly again. He continues to undergo treatment on his leg and PTSD counselling. I still have the trousers I was wearing with a bullet hole through the leg as a souvenir.

The aftermath was nearly disastrous for the Eket operation, almost 3/4 of the pilots and engineers left within the first three days.

So to call the decision to fly to work an over reaction comes across as a gung oh remark. Like a bad joke, "you had to be there". And I'm guessing you weren't.

NEO

[212man]

The successful hijackings weren't a barrel of laughs either, though thankfully without being shot.

[Boudreaux Bob]

NEO,

Did not the Kevlar Curtains give you some sort of solace afterwards?:uhoh:

[SirKORSKY]

No disrespect meant NEO; the stories have been well-told around the "NAF-campfire" since I got here.

It certainly sounded like something out of "Blackhawk Down" as described.

My larger point is that PH could be deemed even less safe by road, especially those late buses either from flying or sitting at PHC in the dark after two days of travel inbound on AF or LH! (At least the QIT-road has the facade of protection?)

Then again, the United Guns of America ain't much better; at least all us hicks, dolts, and hillbillies can pack our own heat! :ok:

[Keke Napep]

Things are getting very bad in the North of my country now :\. I'm thinking of leaving, but it's difficult to transfer to a different unit in Bristow :ugh:. I've been thinking about Trinidad or Tanzania because there's the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard there and I heard they now give AW139 conversion. Does anybody know if that's true and if they take people with no military experience? Bristow is operating in Tanzania with Everett, but I heard that Everett sack a lot of people. I don't know if they'd give conversion either. Have any of you worked for that company?

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Keke,

I can't confirm or refute the sacking rate at Everett, but the turnover there does seem to be high.

All the ex BHNL guys except two have moved on.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Cheers,

NEO

[Keke Napep]

Akin Oni, managing director of Bristow helicopters Nigeria, has been advertising the company's efforts to get enough Nigerian pilots again. The company has more than 100 expatriate pilots and Nigerians leave to go to Caverton or oil companies, so how he is going to fulfil his talk from last time he spoke to the press and said all expatriates will be out by 2015 is difficult to see if just 20 Nigerians a year are going. It will also be interesting to see how the training at National College of Aviation Technology goes with all the problems in the north of our country. Last year when Bristow sent people up there for training, there was a curfew and all the Bristow people had to be evacuated by airplane and helicopter :rolleyes:.
I wonder how much the training bond is now? Oni says the training costs $250,000 per student, but last I heard is that Bristow is asking their parents to sign a bond for N75,000,000 ($460,000).


Again, Bristow Helicopters, an operator in the oil and gas and aviation services, during the week, sponsored 20 Nigerians to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, for training in helicopter and subsequently more training at Bristow Academy in Florida, United States, for over $500 million.

Speaking at the pre-bond ceremony held at the Murtala Muhammed Airport office of the airline, Akin Oni, managing director of the company, said the gesture had become part of the company’s policy because “it prefers the services of Nigerians to expatriates due to the difference in cost.”

He disclosed that the 20 persons were keenly selected from 3,000 applicants, adding that they will eventually be divided into two groups to acquire initial commercial pilot training at Zaria and International College of Aviation in Ilorin.

Oni, who disclosed that the training for each of the cadet will cost $250,000, said Bristow was happy to be part of the growth in human capital in the aviation sector, saying “we have taken the extra step to increase the number of Nigerians we train. Today, we are sending 20 Nigerian students to get commercial pilot training in helicopter in Nigeria and the US. These students are extremely good with either first class or nearly first class in their fields. They will eventually go into training on the larger helicopter.

“The system that started 30 years ago has worked every well. It is not cheap, but this is our way of giving back to the society, it is like a requirement in giving back. We are limiting and replacing expatriates, we are now a global company, therefore, these students have become global materials, they can be required to fly anywhere, this gives confidence to those we recruit because they are not being tied, once you have the licence, you are a global person.”

The company has trained over 300 Nigerians running into millions of dollar, he said, adding that the aim was to continuously engage the services of Nigerians as against expatriates.

“We benefit a lot from the training because it is more competitive; I can replace an expatriate with a Nigerian, the difference is not in the pay but keeping an expatriate in Nigeria is much higher, you will pay both accommodation and look after their security yet they do the same thing as Nigerians. But until we have enough competent Nigerians, they may remain,” he said.

On why many Nigerian pilots are still in the labour market, Oni attributed inadequate flying hours, inability to pass competence tests, and low quality training as part of the reasons many indigenous pilots were unable to secure employment in the aviation sector.

The rising unemployment among young Nigerian pilots may be unchecked, because many young pilots do not have the mandatory 150 hours required of them to demonstrate command on any aircraft, he said, saying “it is either those Nigerians do not have the required flying hours or possess necessary qualifications to pass competent test.”

Meanwhile, parents of the cadets have signed bonds with the management of Bristow in order to prevent untoward event in the course of the training. The bond is to ensure that parents are responsible for their attitudes, especially when they are abroad.

“It becomes difficult to get visas when there is any misdemeanour, the parents give the confidence they require, they are able to put more pressure on them to be well behaved,” he said.


NEO,
I talked to a friend who was working for CHC and he confirms what you said about Everett. I heard the people got sacked because the small helicopters barely fly, but also the company pays very poorly. I met one guy who went for an interview and said the pay was poor and almost nothing extra like Bristow pays. Guess I'll stay in Nigeria until something comes up, maybe with NHV Helicopters in a safer country than my own. Koen Neven, the former MD of Aero Contractors is their BU Manager in Ghana, so they should be doing quite well there.

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Keke,

If you are set on leaving Nigeria and Ghana doesn't pan out, I hear Sonair are recruiting and from what people tell me the package is pretty good. Medical cover, pension, allowances, the whole nine yards.

Might be worth a look ?

Whatever you decide, good luck.

Cheers,

NEO

[onwings]

Latest Information reaching the whispering palms of Escravos shores confirms that the PAAN Base Mgr, a long time Bristow pointy shoes has resigned and abandoned the sinking PAAN ship for another location in Nigeria. :}

[pilot and apprentice]

Is THAT where the ethereal new AGIP BM is coming from??

[Tea Bag]

Unfortunately, both BM stepped down.

[Helinaut]

Smells like a big change at Agip is on the horizon! :ugh:

[onwings]

Actually whispering palms got the wind that the less liked of the duo was actually fired :mad:

[Keke Napep]

One of the rumours I heard is that there may be no need for a new base manager at Agip as Bristow may pull out because of the old problem every company flying for Agip has - being owed huge sums of money for a long time :ugh: . The Bristow contract is renewed every 2 or 3 weeks because NAPIMS wouldn't endorse the contract because no 'brown envelopes' were handed over to them :( .

[Phone Wind]

Yet again the Nigerian army has given a superb example of its professionalism and it's easy to see why many ordinary people in northern Nigeria are more frightened of them than they are of Boko Haram :ugh:
It's also a salutary lesson that democracy is more an illusion than a reality here.
When a Nigerian soldier on a motor bike had a collision with a bus rapid transit vehicle in Lagos on 4 July, the Nigeria army went on a rampage setting fire to buses, beating up hundreds of people and causing huge 'go-slows'. This only goes to show, that even though some people think that Lagos is safer than places like Port Harcourt and Warri, it would be only too easy for anybody driving in Lagos to get unwittingly involved in a dangerous situation :eek:


Stanley Azuakola: The Nigerian Army I saw today

First, an apology: I am sorry for all the times when despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I have tried to give the Nigerian Army the benefit of the doubt.

When satellite images released by Human Rights Watch showed the destruction in Bama last year after soldiers razed over 2000 homes, I still gave the benefit of the doubt. “What if we are wrong? Let’s support our military!” I told people.

I was touched but did not care much about the 32-year old fisherman interviewed by Human Rights Watch who said, “We had heard the soldiers say before the attack that since you people are not cooperating with us and are hiding your brothers, we will treat you as one of them. Everyone heard them say this. They were saying it in the open.”

That man lost his uncle who had a bad leg and could not escape when soldiers attacked and burnt the houses after a Boko Haram attack. But I still tried to make excuses.

Even when my Twitter friend, Salihu TankoYakasai (@dawisu) shared stories in April last year, claiming that soldiers in Kano have turned into “an even deadlier enemy than Boko Haram… and had become human exterminators,” I silently accused him of exaggerating. Somewhere in my mind, Bama and Maiduguri and Kano… were all too far for me.

In the last few months, I have become more critical of the army. After their ridiculous lie that they had released the abducted Chibok girls, and the back story which led to the mutiny at the Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, I knew my support could no longer be unconditional. I began to take anything the army said with a pinch of salt.

Today, I saw firsthand the Nigerian Army in action in Lagos… I have never seen anything like it in my life.

A soldier was knocked down and killed by a BRT bus in Lagos. Soldiers in army green stormed Ikorodu road where the buses ply and first thing they did was to close the road from Palmgrove where the accident reportedly happened. The closure immediately caused a massive traffic gridlock. But that was just the beginning.

The soldiers began attacking BRT buses on the road. They vandalised the buses, broke the glasses and windscreens, and deflated the tyres. I got a call about the incident and immediately went to see for myself.

The first scene that greeted me at Palmgrove was a journalist being viciously beaten by the soldiers. “Please I’m a journalist,” he kept saying, pleading with them. They did not care – a female soldier led that attack. The offence of that journalist was that he was bold enough to take photos of the vandalised buses. His ipad was seized and he was so badly brutalised that he had to be rushed to the hospital.

Soldiers demanded that Nigerian civilians passing along Palmgrove raise their two hands in the air, as though we are in a war situation. No one was permitted to hold his phone in his hand or receive a call. Not even those driving-by in their cars were spared. A young soldier slapped a man making a call inside a bus because he disobeyed an order he was not even aware of.

Things got even worse. Some of the onlookers told me that a senior officer came by and directed the soldiers on ground to burn the parked buses. I did not see that officer but I saw soldiers as they went into two nearby petrol filling stations, ordered the attendant to fill some kegs with petrol and carry it to a spot where one of the buses was parked. I watched as soldiers got into the bus and emptied the keg of fuel inside it right there by the side. Then they struck a match and it was in flames.

On either side of that burning bus, there was massive traffic and cars (including fuel tankers) were moving slowly. The soldiers did not care and commuters prayed as they moved past. They did not even have the luxury of turning back as the road was blocked.

I was there when a Peugeot car with a tinted glass and plate number NA-911934 arrived the scene and two young-looking officers stepped out. I do not know much about army ranks but a friend by my side saw their stars and cap and told me that one was a captain and the other a Lt-Colonel. I went close to see if I could get their names but they had removed their name tags of course. The other officers recognised the presence of their bosses with the usual greeting as the two men strutted calmly away from my spot.

I am sharing the entry of those officers because some people are currently trying to frame this story on social media as though it was something that was done by a few “disgruntled” soldiers in the rank and file. That is not and cannot be true. Those soldiers could not have been so bold to stay there for over 5 hours and all that time, there was not a call from their superiors asking them to desist. All of Lagos had heard the news, yet people who push this theory of a “few disgruntled soldiers” want us to believe that the bosses had not heard and could do nothing. That’s illogical!

At the Palmgrove bus stop, four BRT buses were parked, just in front of the MRS filling station. I saw a female soldier shout, “We suppose start one smoke from there.” I reached her and said, “Aunty please I beg, this is so close to the filling station, it might cause an explosion.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing from this small, uniformless person: “If I send you slap ehn. Gerraway from here,” she told me, and I ‘gorrawayed.’

The soldiers got petrol, emptied it inside the middle bus and set it on fire. Before long, the four buses were on fire.

I and a few friends wanting to know the exact spot the incident happened, went to speak with security men guarding the entrance into the Palmgrove estate. They told us that they did not know what happened but that all of a sudden they saw a crowd rushing into their estate (the crowd was being chased by soldiers.) The guards quickly rushed to close the gates against the onrushing crowd. Apparently the soldiers believed that the BRT drivers had run into the estate and the guards were attempting to close the gates to shield them. They beat up the three elderly guards. One of them told us he had pains on his arms and legs, the other was still in shock, the last one was in the hospital.

We immediately left for the Ultima Medicare Clinic at 2A Cappa Avenue, Palmgrove where the third guard was admitted but we were denied entrance. According to them, “Chairman says it is an internal matter.”

By 1pm, when I left the scene, the soldiers were still there, most of them now seated in their Hilux vans with “OP MESA” written on them, others controlling the traffic, others seizing cameras, and others pushing back onlookers. Their colleague had died (some people I spoke to said the dead soldier was supposed to get married tomorrow and some said he was a colonel; I don’t believe either). Either way, he was gone. His colleagues will never see him again, but as I left, I noticed a group of soldiers, huddled together, laughing – it’s been a good day’s job. They had put the ‘fear of god in hapless civilians.’

On a final note, as I was writing this, I saw an update from Musiliu Obanikoro, the minister of state for defence (who was not at the scene), saying he has been briefed by the chief of army staff (who was not on the scene) that “some thugs in the area took advantage of the incident to wreak havoc and the military has taken necessary steps to restore peace and forestall further breakdown of law and order.” Obanikoro knows that he is lying, but he won’t stop – it’s just how they roll. Before there is even an investigation, there is already a cover-up.

I know that there are a few good men in our military and I thank them for all the times they have discharged their duties with uprightness and professionalism. But all over the country, it is now clear that there are certainly more lawless men in our army than responsible individuals. An army that believes in jungle justice is a perversion. The Army I saw today was not that glorious army which we used to rave about when they go on foreign missions and who people say are the most professional on the continent. The army I saw was a gang of buccaneers, a vicious rampaging locust-like evil on green that should be utterly ashamed of itself and that is in much need of a reform. But I am not hopeful.


Soldiers Go On Rampage in Lagos (http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/soldiers-go-rampage-burn-vandalise-brt-buses-colleague-death-lagos/)

[Keke Napep]

It looks like our government is losing the battle everywhere and that the fuel depot explosion in Apapa on 25 June was not actually caused by a gas bottle exploding and there were 4 people killed. The government is trying to cover up the fact that the explosion was actually caused by an IED :ugh: AFP and Control Risks International have both investigated the blast and revealed that it was, in fact, a deliberate bombing, though not necessarily by Boko Haram. Is nowhere in our country safe any more? :{


The federal government, while battling to stem an escalating Islamist insurgency, covered up a bomb attack in the financial capital Lagos by claiming a blast near a major fuel depot was an industrial accident, according to an AFP investigation.

The explosion ripped through an area of Nigeria’s biggest city on June 25, just hours after a suspected Boko Haram car bombing in the administrative capital Abuja, which killed 21 people and stoked fresh fears that the group’s deadly campaign was spreading.

The Lagos blast in the Apapa area, on a main road feeding Nigeria’s busiest port and in an area housing most of the city’s fuel depots, was blamed on a cooking gas cylinder which exploded, with no casualties.

But the photographs of the scene showed a destroyed car plus damage to surrounding vehicles, which the British army’s former head of bomb disposal said left no doubt as to the cause.

After reviewing the images, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and a specialist in improvised explosive devices (IEDs), Bob Seddon, said: “This was definitely an incident involving the use of high explosives.”

The former Royal Logistics Corps colonel said: “The type of blast effects and fragmentation pattern you would get from a gas explosion are quite different,” assessing that 25-50 kilos (55-110 pounds) of improvised high explosive were used.

Senior foreign diplomats also indicated privately that the blast was deliberate, attributing the official denials to fears over the potential effects of a confirmed first attack on Lagos, which drives the country’s economy.

The first suggestions of an attack appeared on social networking sites after 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) on June 25 and in local media the following day but failed to gain wider attention because of government denials and the focus on the deadly Abuja bombing.
Flat denials or no comment from the government are not uncommon in Nigeria, particularly involving Boko Haram, whose five-year insurgency has intensified in the North-east and seen almost daily attacks.

But questions have lingered about the Apapa incident because Lagos, in the South-west of the country, has so far escaped the violence.

Lagos is home to about 20 million people as well as major overseas companies in key sectors such as oil and gas. The city is also seen as a gateway to trade in the wider west Africa region.

There has been no claim of responsibility and Lagos State police have launched an investigation.

The Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA) Mike Omeri, who deals with homeland security issues, said the probe would “look at all issues… whether it is IEDs, car bombings or accidents.”

Political and security consultants Control Risks, which has an office in Lagos, said the Apapa blast was a bombing that killed at least four people, according to a briefing note seen that it sent to foreign business and government clients.

“Drawing on eyewitness sources, Control Risks assesses that the incident was a militant attack rather than an industrial accident,” the group’s senior West Africa analyst, Roddy Barclay, said in a separate interview.

Since June 25, the Lagos State government has ordered tighter security at key fuel and infrastructure installations, and beefed up state hospitals’ capacity to deal with mass casualty emergencies.

The state Commissioner for Health Jide Idris, said measures included increasing blood stocks and buying new ambulances as well as putting all emergency units on stand-by.
But he maintained the measures were only because of the countrywide state of alert.

Seddon’s analysis and Control Risks’ assessment chimed with the accounts of seven eye-witnesses, who all said independently that there were two explosions.

The first happened in and around the gates of the Folawiyo fuel depot on Creek Road while the second minutes later when a Toyota Sienna people carrier exploded in the road nearby, they said.

“I was on duty that night,” said security guard Samuel George. “All of a sudden, we heard a loud explosion and we quickly shut the gate… Some minutes later, a car that was parked in the middle of the road exploded.

“My colleague and I were hit by broken pieces of metal from the car. I had a deep cut on my face and head and since then have not been able to work. Many people were killed, including those I knew,” the 25-year-old added.
Another local worker added: “I don’t know why the government is lying. The explosions were nothing short of bombings.”

Claims that the first explosion was caused by a female suicide bomber could not be verified with certainty.

The head of the Yinka Folawiyo Group of Companies, which runs the fuel depot, had denied that the blast happened inside the facility and dismissed reports of fatalities, according to local media.

A US government official said Boko Haram had the “operational reach to get to Lagos” but only Control Risks has so far directly linked the bombing to the group.

But Barclay qualified: “The incident is likely to have been staged by a local Islamist network rather than being planned and coordinated by Boko Haram’s core leadership in the North-east.”


Local groups had more parochial agendas, he added.
Further attacks were credible, probably on “soft targets”, but the bombing did not necessarily signal the start of a “sustained insurgency” in Lagos, he said.

[Keke Napep]

Our troops are losing the battle against Boko Haram and if this continues, the terrorists will surely start pushing further south. Boko Haram recaptured 45 of 63 women who managed to escape 3 days ago. Now the Nigerian army has taken heavy casualties in tis bid to recapture Damboa military base from the insurgents who over-ran it a few days ago. The army sent in more than 200 troops, but they were ambushed by the militants who had dug a trench and were lying in wait. At least 15 soldiers were killed and scores injured in the operation and the survivors were angry that they were sent on an operation against an enemy who had more firepower than they did. Boko Haram are known to have increased their weapons arsenal after the fighting in CAR brought many new weapons across the border via northern Cameroon.

[unstable load]

Considering there have been whisperings of Senior Military and even Cabinet level involvement with Boko Haram, I am hardly surprised they are making inroads.
Factor in that the Military has done nothing to endear themselves to non-BH civilians with their overhanded tactics and it starts to become no surprise that soon the North will be controlled by BH and Nigeria will be a country divided.

[Keke Napep]

Interesting to see if the latest 2 announcements from the Nigerian centre of aviation excellence, Caver....... are related:}

With effect from 1 August Captain Josiah Chomsky is appointed Managing Director. Apparently he was a training captain with Bristow (why did he leave them again?). Apparently his degree from Oxford is in fact a Doctorate from the University of Wales :confused:

Captain Charles de Mannoury, who is on leave will not be returning and is being replaced as Director of Flight Operations by Captain Pato Agbonlahor

[bh412tt]

Saw them in action in Liberia while contracted to the UN. Wasn't pretty.........:(

[peppersoup]

What is going on with Aero RW? They have lost NNPC
I am hearing that management is firing pilots and engineers ...
Any details?

[John Eacott]

Nigerian AF Mi-35 crash (http://ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/171776-nigerian-air-force-helicopter-crashes%E2%80%8B)

A NIGERIAN Air Force Mi-35 Helicopter on a training mission on Monday afternoon, crashed due to technical fault at a location in South of Bama.

According to a press release signed by Major-General Chris Kolade, Director Defence Information, investigation has commenced to unravel the circumstances that led to the accident. He said that the crash is not as a result of any enemy action. Further details on the crash will be made known as investigation progresses.

[xtremalsound]

Peppersoup,

As far as I know, aero has fires seven pilots in the past two weeks. NNPC wants to sell the helicopters which belong to them.
I think aero has only one contract and the other jobs are charter and vip movements...

[Keke Napep]

It's worrying that the Liberian man who arrived in Lagos on an Asky flight last weekend has died in a private hospital. Our government has said that it has put all airports on red alert and has traced all the other passengers who were on the flight and is monitoring them, but I have no faith that this is the case.
According to our own government figures there may now be as many as 21 million people in Lagos and most of the city is terribly overcrowded. It doesn't help that our government doctors are all on strike. What happens if more cases are found - will our expensive (and not very good) private hospitals wasn't to have any Ebola cases there and risk being quarantined by the government. I just hope that there will be no more cases in Nigeria as this is a terrible disease with a very high mortality rate.

[Keke Napep]

It's worrying that the Liberian man who arrived in Lagos on an Asky flight last weekend has died in a private hospital. Our government has said that it has put all airports on red alert and has traced all the other passengers who were on the flight and is monitoring them, but I have no faith that this is the case.
According to our own government figures there may now be as many as 21 million people in Lagos and most of the city is terribly overcrowded. It doesn't help that our government doctors are all on strike. What happens if more cases are found - will our expensive (and not very good) private hospitals wasn't to have any Ebola cases there and risk being quarantined by the government. I just hope that there will be no more cases in Nigeria as this is a terrible disease with a very high mortality rate.

[MamaPut]

I'm rather out of touch with what's happening in Bristow and PAAN. I heard that Eric Adevokhai is the new deputy Head of Flight Ops, but who's replacing Dave Dwyer? I heard that Mike - the axe :ooh: - Imlach has been visiting after being promoted to Senior VP Operations for Bristow, so who has he wielded his axe on so far? He was pretty much universally hated during his time as the damaging director there :\. Has anyone taken over the training manager job now that Adinba has left for Chevron? What's happening at Agip? I heard one base manager resigned and the other stood down.
I hear that there have been quite a lot of upsets in PAAN also with base managers resigning. What's going on there to upset people? Have they also got a new managing director?
It's also rumoured that the Director of Flight Operations of Caverton has resigned (or more likely fired).
What's happening with Aero RW? There were rumours that Nestoil were interested in buying them for their AOC. If the NNPC aircraft really are being sold that will leave them with almost nothing, but I can't believe they'll disappear from the scene. Having said that, I think of the demise of Okada airlines all those years ago and that was never resurrected. Maybe the Ibru family is not interested in keeping the helicopters or their reported family squabbles and the 60% holding by AMCON is forcing them to review their finances. I'm sure that the old Warri airstrip will still be of interest to other helicopter operators as it's a good fuelling stop and Osubi is ridiculously expensive.

[TIMTS]

I'm hearing through the grapevine, so take it for what it is worth, that quite a few of the pilots in PH "are packing their bags for the last time".

Bristow also reportedly stopped the 412 to 76 conversions that was started in anticipation of Addax going to 76Ds.

As for PAAN, same old same old. Rumors rule all, little or no info from above. And pilots looking for alternate employment in anticipation of the contract going away. The feeling amongst the guys is that the lack of info from above is to get the people to stay. If the Hofo and MD told the guys and gals what is actually going on there would be a great exodus, leaving PAAN high and dry.

[Keke Napep]

Bristow used to be a great company. I don't know about other parts of the world but it looks as if here in Nigeria it's passed its heyday and the decline is gathering momentum. That's what happens when people with zero people skills who's only remit is to squeeze blood out of a stone rise to the top of aviation companies. I really wish I'd gone into IT now; the fun's gone out of aviation in Nigeria :yuk:

[Boudreaux Bob]

Bristow Management, Nigeria, and People Skills? Now that is the basis for a Greek Tragedy!

[Helinaut]

Fact is, all the guys and girls doing the job and make the $$ are in bad shape right now! If Bristow loses another contract, then good night! :sad:
Well, there are currently other option if you want to stay in Nigeria. But is it really an option? :(

[Keke Napep]

The PAAN base managers who stepped down are not going to be replaced as such, but the HoFO and his deputy will be moving and taking on dual roles as base managers. I can't see PAAN being replaced at Escravos though as they've had that contract for years now. However, it's possible the contract could be split between 2 operators, with the 'small' ships run by 1 company from Escravos and the mediums run by another out of WT. I wonder how much influence Adinba will have on this process in his new Chevron job.
It's strange that EA was not made training manager and now, as for many years when 'the major' and PW were running things, the training department is a rudderless ship. Things now are worse here than they were 5 years ago with rampant favouritism and crony-ism in Lagos and Port Harcourt.
With Boko Haram getting bolder and committing new atrocities on a daily basis, the possibility of Ebola coming to Lagos, maybe it really is time to get out as IT jobs are available and I want to get my family away from all of this :{

[Keke Napep]

Both Arik Air and Asky have now suspended flights to Monrovia and Freetown because of the Ebola outbreak, but is it too little too late? All of the countries where cases have been confirmed have also done too little and MSF is really the only organisation trying to get things under control. The Liberian man who arrived on the Asky flight had symptoms and collapsed as soon as he arrived, but the incubation period of the virus is between 2 and 21 days, so there may be other passengers who have travelled to Nigeria from the affected countries whose symptoms have not yet started to show. We just have to hope and pray that the one found is the only one :\


What is the Ebola virus, and how worried should we be?[

As the death toll from Ebola reaches 670, a second American doctor contracts the virus in Liberia, and it is feared to have spread to Nigeria, here's an explanation of what Ebola is, how it is spread, and how worried we should be.

What is Ebola?

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as "a severe, often fatal illness in humans."

It first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks - in Nzara, Sudan; and in Yambuku, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.

It is mainly found in tropical Central and West Africa, and can have a 90 per cent mortality rate - although it is now at about 60 per cent.

How is it transmitted?

The virus is known to live in fruit bats, and normally affects people living in or near tropical rainforests.

It is introduced into the human population through close contact with the sweat, blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.

The virus then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the disease is not contagious until a person begins to show symptoms.

A big problem in West Africa is that burial ceremonies, in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person, can increase the spread of the disease because a person can transmit the virus even after death.

Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to seven weeks after recovery from illness.

Ebola kills indiscriminately, but women are particularly badly affected. Because it is transmitted through bodily fluids, it spreads easily to people caring for the sick. In West Africa, it is generally women that prepare dead bodies for funeral and look after ailing members of their communities.


What does it do to your body?

Symptoms begin with fever, muscle pain and a sore throat, then rapidly escalate to vomiting, diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding.

The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is from two to 21 days.

Health workers are at serious risk of contracting the disease - two American doctors have already contracted it, and a Liberian medic has died. Sierra Leone announced on July 23 Sheik Umar Khan, the doctor leading the fight against Ebola in the country, had himself contracted the disease following the deaths of several nurses at the treatment centre where he works.

Early treatment improves a patient's chances of survival.


How is it treated?

There is no vaccine or cure, and testing to confirm the virus must be done with the highest level of biohazard protection.

Severely ill patients require intensive supportive. Patients are frequently dehydrated and require oral rehydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids.

A significant problem with the current outbreak is families lose faith in Western medicine, which cannot yet cure the patients. They then take them home to traditional village healers, which often leads the disease to spread.


Where have there been outbreaks before?

The WHO is calling this the largest outbreak ever recorded of the disease.

But there have been sporadic outbreaks before - mainly in Uganda, the DRC, Sudan and Gabon.

The worst previous outbreak, in 2000 in Uganda, saw 425 people infected, of which just over half died.


How likely is it to reach Britain?

There has been a previous case in the UK, when in 1976 someone was accidentally infected in a laboratory, but survived.

And up until a few weeks ago, the cases were mainly in remote areas affecting rural workers unlikely to take flights and spread the disease internationally.

However, concern is now growing that this large outbreak is spreading beyond the rural areas of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - where it has been concentrated so far - and into the capital cities and beyond.

A Liberian man died in Nigeria on July 24, having flown in to Lagos after a stopover in Togo. That the man died in Africa's largest city has deeply worried authorities.

There have been no Ebola cases from people returning to the UK from Africa.

Guinea is not a big tourist destination with only around 2,600 visits a year from the UK, mostly on business - but 117,000 Britons visit Nigeria each year.

Travellers who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus in West Africa should seek urgent medical attention immediately if symptoms develop within 21 days of coming home. UK doctors who suspect Ebola can get expert advice from the Imported Fever Service.

Public Health England says the risk of a traveller contracting Ebola is very low without direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person or animal

[TIMTS]

::: Oyibosonline ::: The Expat's Guide to Nigeria ::: (http://www.oyibosonline.com/cgi-bin/newsscript.pl?record=13965)


"The global health group Doctors Without Borders has characterized the Ebola outbreak as “absolutely out of control,” and the group’s director of operations, Bart Jannsens said that the outbreak “can only get worse.” "

This can only go one way. Time to stop travel?

[Tea Bag]

Honestly mate? The media is spinning this fear and panic epidemic 24/7 for ratings. Wash your hands regularly and do not exchange bodily fluids with an acutely ill person. You have more of a chance dying from AIDS, Lassa Fever, Malaria, Yellow Fever or Boko Haram. Cheers

[TukTuk BoomBoom]

I don't think it's the media spinning this. Both the WHO and MSF are extremely concerned and it's already the biggest Ebola outbreak ever.
No one believes the Nigerians can contain this in Lagos, except Nigerians...
The guys in the BRC better be washing more than their hands....

[helipiloto]

I agree completely tuk tuk. The WHO does not need ratings. Obviously Bristow and other companies will try to play this down and compare Ebola to a common flu outbrake, but Ebola is deadly. Yes there are many risks down there, a long list, but Ebola is the latest, very deadly, and it is very disappointing to see that Bristow (as with all other potential problems affecting staff) just dont care at all. Their response has simply been: wash your hands, look out for ill people and if you don't like it you know where the door is...

[Boudreaux Bob]

What would you have Bristow and other Companies do in dealing with the risk of Ebola?

[helipiloto]

As there is no vaccine against Ebola, prevention is the only solution at this stage. Cleanliness is a good place to start. I will take the BRC as an example. Can you compare the state of its kitchen to the one in your own home? How about the filth all around in there? Is your own home in that state? How about the laundry room? How about the state of most furniture, courtains, beds, sheets, etc, etc. Just like the ones at home, right? My guess is the answer to these is NO. But I guess all this is too much to ask because these things take money to be fixed and management bonuses are at stake here... and hey "what do you expect it‘s Nigeria"
And if you can‘t stand it leaving is always a good option. How many expats have come and gone in the past few years? A lot. And each time someone resigns and a new expat joins it costs money to the company. Wouldn't it be easier to fix things and try and keep expats happier and for the long term? Maybe I‘m just naive, I don't know.

[Keke Napep]

The (French) general manager of Aero Contractors rotary wing has now left and gone to Benin Republic. Is this the end of the end for this company which was once the largest helicopter operator in Nigeria? The CHC experience and the squabbles between the children of the 2 wives of Chief Ibru seem to have finally brought the company down :\

[GoodGrief]

I am on vacation right now, so have 5 weeks to think about whether I'll return or stay at home for a little while longer...

[TIMTS]

I hear Bristow had a 76 blow the floats on deck, and then load pax and return to base. This would be the captains third time blowing the floats, previously on the 206 in Escravos.

[Tormas]

Actually it was the co-pilot and that's my first time ;-) yours is still coming

PS - pax were already loaded on unstable deck wasnt an option to offload as floats lesson ground contact on a moving deck

[Keke Napep]

I'm sure the passengers will be pleased to know that their Captain wants to shift the blame. I'd be interested in the reference that floats lessen ground contact on a moving deck.

[pohm1]

When the aircraft landed safely back at the NAF Base, the nose wheel was clear of the ground, held there by the forward float bags.

P1

[Boudreaux Bob]

It would be informative to learn exactly how that Float Inflation happened?

Perhaps a full explanation might help someone else keep that from happening to them in the future.

Care to share your experience with the rest of us?

After all, Bristow just spent a bit of money re-packing the Floats and recharging the Float Bottle(s) so a bit of added value to the event would seem worthwhile rather than just getting into a pissing contest.

We all have to remember that even Monkey's fall out of Trees sometimes.

[terminus mos]

When the aircraft landed safely back at the NAF Base, the nose wheel was clear of the ground, held there by the forward float bags.


Must have been a long slow trip home at 74 knots.

[twisted wrench]

Tormas:
I hope the engineers bought you a couple of beer for coming home with the floats deployed? Saved them a lot of extra work having not having to go out to the platform to replace the float bottles and valves , charge the bottles and repack the floats to get the aircraft back home.

Not to worry you are joining a long list of other pilots and engineers who have deployed the S76 floats by accident.

[Keke Napep]

There is now a second confirmed case of Ebola in Lagos as the doctor who treated the Liberian man who arrived with the disease, has now also caught it. Let's pray that's the last

[alouette]

There is a saying though that goes like this…"It ain't over until the fat lady sings…" there might be a whole lot more undocumented cases… :(

[Keke Napep]

Bristow ..... axe man cometh. S76Ds not here ..... conversions stopped ..... excess staff .... cutback in expats .... staff 'let go' .... beginning of end. Last in out ..... lights :ugh:

[Helinaut]

76C+/++ courses back on line, 76D conversions on schedule again, Bristow on the downhill slide...right on track! What a mess!:ugh:

[Keke Napep]

There are now 7 confirmed Ebola cases in Lagos and President Jonathan has declared a national emergency and released the pathetically small sum of $11 million to help fight the outbreak. Meanwhile the NNPC clinic in Lagos has been closed down after a woman was diagnosed with Ebola there but authorities have no idea how many people she has been in contact with. More American personnel are being deployed to Nigeria which has never encountered Ebola before and CDC in Atlanta is predicting a small lull, but in 3 weeks time at the end of the incubation period for the virus, they are seriously worried that there will be a huge spike as many more people will be found to have contracted the disease. A number of international companies have started withdrawing staff from Nigeria.
I guess in Bristow we'll just be told to wash our hands more often and not shake hands with each other :ugh:

[Keke Napep]

There are now 9 confirmed Ebola cases in my country, 2 have died and 139 are now in quarantine. I fear that much worse is yet to come :(


IT BEGINS like a cold. The Ebola virus, for which there is no vaccine or proven cure, starts with such unremarkable symptoms – headache, fever, aches and pains – that early cases in the epidemic sweeping West 
Africa were misdiagnosed as malaria.

Some were missed altogether.

Once the flu-like stage passes, the haemorrhaging starts. This is an alarming, ugly disease. Blood may appear in vomit, urine or diarrhoea, then from under the skin, from the eyes or from the mouth. Inside the body, blood vessels begin leaking. As the blood pressure drops, the heart, kidneys, liver and other organs begin to fail. Survival rates vary, although none are higher than 50 per cent. The most pessimistic assessments say 90 per cent of people infected with Ebola go on to die of the disease, usually within weeks.

If only this was just the plot of a horrific science fiction movie. To date, 932 people have died of Ebola, in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. A further 1,711 are known to be infected. The virus is spread through body fluids and close physical contact; medical staff wear the kind of hazard protection gear more commonly associated with a nuclear reactor in meltdown. There is little they can do for their patients and the health services in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the worst affected countries, are crumbling under the pressure. Hospitals are overflowing while terrified, pressurised staff are walking away from their posts.

Meanwhile in America two medical missionaries, air-lifted from Liberia to an isolation unit in Atlanta, are being treated with an experimental drug, ZMapp, which has not been approved by the American Food and Drug Administration. It is produced by a tiny biotech firm, Mapp, in San Diego and it has yet to be tested on humans. They appear to be recovering, but there is no way of assessing whether or not this is down to the drug. Some patients given treatment for dehydration, fever or antibiotics for side infections caused by the haemorrhaging, do survive.

Mapp, which is under pressure to scale up production, is struggling to produce more of what is being called “the secret serum”. The Nigerian health minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, was told last week that there were such small quantities available that West Africa would have to wait for months for supplies.

Even if they were available, is it ethically acceptable to use an untested drug on people who are already extremely ill? ZMapp, which contains antibodies that specifically attack the Ebola virus, is a type of drug that has a proven track record. Even so, the normal procedure is first to test a new drug on healthy humans, to assess its side-effects. And if it is acceptable, why has it been given to two white missionaries instead of the thousands of Africans who also have the virus and who are not benefiting from the world-class medical care available in Atlanta? To address this, and other unresolved issues surrounding the Ebola outbreak, which is perceived to have caught it on the back foot, the World Health Organisation has convened a two-day emergency meeting in Geneva this week.

There, experts will decide whether to classify the epidemic as an international public health emergency. They will also look at ways of helping the organisations working on the ground and consider extending the use of ZMapp and other untried treatments.

Within the medical and aid communities, there is widespread anger at the paucity of treatments available. Hannah Spencer, from Surrey, a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) volunteer doctor who returned from Liberia last month, says: “It’s frustrating that there is no specific cure for Ebola. I feel sure that if it affected people in the West then a lot more would have been done to find a cure or a vaccine.”

Ebola is far from the only under-researched tropical disease. There is still no vaccine or cure for malaria (which the WHO estimates killed 627,000 people, mainly African children, in 2012). Yet Aids, which was discovered in the same year as Ebola, is now widely treated with anti-retrovirals and is no longer a death sentence. Aids, while prevalent in Africa, also affects thousands in Western countries with sizable health budgets. It does not take a conspiracy theorist to ask some basic questions about why one is now being successfully treated while the other is killing hundreds, with the possibility of thousands more to follow.

Meanwhile, in the absence of alternatives, Liberia and Sierra Leone have put large areas of their countries under quarantine. Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, declared a 90-day state of emergency on Wednesday, with police and army checkpoints around the affected counties. In Sierra Leone, soldiers in full riot gear are guarding the roads into the two worst affected areas in an attempt to control the spread of the virus.

Ebola, which was discovered in 1976, is new to this area of West Africa. It is spread by contact with bodily fluids: blood, vomit, saliva, semen. The virus can survive on surfaces, so any contaminated object, such as a latex glove or a hypodermic needle, can harbour the disease. The public health messages that have kept it under control in the areas of east Africa where it started are just beginning to make an impression in the newly affected areas, many of which are remote villages. Preventive measures, carried out by staff in full hazard kit, can seem as alarming as the disease itself. There is still widespread fear, ignorance and misunderstanding.

Tim Jagatic, a doctor working with MSF, explains: “In Guéckédougou, in Guinea, a person died in their village. The next day, health workers showed up in ‘space suits’ and started spraying everything with disinfectant. And then more people started dying. So it seems to them like after we showed up with the spray, more people died. And they say, ‘Oh, so you’re spraying Ebola in our village.’ It’s difficult to explain that there’s something so small, you can’t see it with your own eyes, but it’s one of the deadliest things. We take for granted our basic level of education in the West.

“The biggest point of fear is the unknown. They know something bad called Ebola is in their community, and it’s killing people they know and love, and they don’t know how to stop it.”

Hand-washing stations have appeared in public places throughout the affected countries and health workers with posters and megaphones are out spreading the message. Early on in the outbreak people were advised not to shake hands – a common greeting for men in this part of Africa – or kiss. In March, Liberia’s health minister advised people to stop having sex.

As the death toll rises, burying the dead has become a particularly vexed issue. The body of a person who has died of Ebola is highly contagious. The traditional west African practice, where village elders would prepare the corpse by washing the body and braiding the hair of a woman, and mourners touch and kiss the corpse, carries a high risk of infection. Experts reckon that funerals speeded up the early spread of disease. (Many of the other early casualties were family members, who had cared for sick relatives at home.)

In hospitals, corpses are dealt with by cleaners. (These will be local staff, while the doctors and nurses are likely to be from international aid organisations.) Many of these young men are uncomfortable taking on a role associated with age and seniority. They have also been ostracised within their communities.

Ane Bjøru Fjeldsæter, an MSF psychologist, counsels frontline medics. She says: “I was expecting the Ebola epidemic to be quite gruesome and unlike anything I had seen before. But I really didn’t expect its magnitude – this outbreak is enormous. In Sierra Leone, it killed off a lot of health workers before MSF even arrived.

“The cleaners have the hardest job of all, because they are the ones dealing with the dead bodies. In an area with an unemployment rate of 95 per cent, they jumped at this opportunity to get a job. They are the ones who mop up the vomit, stools and blood. And when there’s a death, they are the ones who retrieve the dead body from the isolation ward, put it in the morgue and disinfect it.

“Traditionally, in Sierra Leone, dead bodies are taken care of by the tribal elders. A lot of the hygienists feel they are too young to be dealing with the dead – they feel they’re being disrespectful of their culture’s traditions.”

MSF staff, says Fjeldsæter, works hard to counter the stigma these workers face at home. “We tell them, ‘You are heroes, you’re doing a very important service for your community – it’s absolutely vital that someone is doing this job.’”

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the current response to the Ebola epidemic is little more than fire-fighting, panicking and hand-wringing. “We need twice as many people,” states MSF’s Jagatic. “We simply don’t have the numbers to delegate all the things that have to be done when we’re in the isolation ward.” There, the full protective kit that every doctor and nurse must wear at all times is unbearably hot, limiting the time available to spend with patients.

“We would like to keep a visit between 45 minutes and one hour, but now, we’re stretching it to almost two hours. We put ourselves through a very strong physiological stress when we’re using personal protection gear, because it’s impermeable. We sweat, we’re losing water; we’re getting hotter and it wreaks havoc on the body. Our own endurance starts to wear down.”

Cathy Ratcliff, head of international development at Edinburgh medical charity EMMS International, says that it is almost impossible for us to grasp the level of poverty and lack of understanding that is the context for the Ebola outbreak. “There is so much ignorance, so many differences of opinion. We have health messages directed at us from the day we are born. It is very different if you can’t read, if you have hardly been to school.

“And then there are really basic things: you need access to clean water and soap to wash your hands. It’s down to more than just knowledge. It’s very hard for us to appreciate just how little some people have.”

Hannah Spencer of MSF sees organisation as the key. “To treat the outbreak adequately, we really need an integrated approach between the governments in the region and other non-governmental organisations. We need a lot more medical staff who have experience with Ebola and we need a lot more people spreading health promotion messages and tracing everyone who has come into contact with people who have the disease. This is the only thing that will really bring the outbreak under control

[helipiloto]

What would you have Bristow and other Companies do in dealing with the risk of Ebola?

Boudreaux Bob, that was your question a few days ago and then I replied to you. I (unlike you) am not health and safety manager so my answer may not have been as good. But now I ask you: What are you doing as HSE manager to prevent against Ebola. Is the level of cleanliness at the BRC getting better (specially the kitchen and its staff)? Are you having those sweaty bus seat covers washed more regularly? Is anything being done????

[Boudreaux Bob]

I am not the HSE Manager or an employee of Bristow.

I do not even hold any Shares of Bristow.

I am just curious what Bristow or any other Oil Patch Company can do or should do in light of the threat of Ebola to its Nigerian based Staff, both Local and Expat.

Until you can determine what the Risks are there is no way to figure out what the correct response to the Threat should be.

[unstable load]

Short of pulling out completely, nobody can adequately prescribe/mandate anything against Ebola.
At the end of the day, it will come down to social norms like personal hygiene, (because this plague trasfers via touch, thus, washing hands regularly is important) shaking hands... a hot potato if there ever was one.... because the virus transfers via touch, to be prudent, one should keep one's hands in your pockets and run the gauntlet of offending almost everyone you come in contact with.

Another issue is going to be changing the mindset of how the vast number of tribes and clans deal with their dead, because a victim of Ebola is still infectous for a few days after death.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, if a guy survives the virus and goes off to celebrate by having a few beers and getting laid (let's face it, who wouldn't??) his semen is still infectous for up to 8 weeks, apparently.......

We have interesting times ahead of us.

[MamaPut]

Just out of interest, I see that this thread has now had more than 1 million views :ok:

[Keke Napep]

unstable load,
For you they may be interesting, but for those of us who live here and have family and friends in Lagos, they're more than that - they're frightening!
We now have 10 confirmed cases, but you seem to have been here for a while and you know how there are many of we Nigerians who want to believe there's a cure for everything if some pastor comes along claiming to have a miracle cure (after all, that draws more people to their churches and substantially increases their income :ugh:).

It's also about time our striking doctors showed that they deserve to be called doctors, take that responsibility seriously and get back to work until this outbreak is over.

Reuters Africa has published an interesting article and I've included links to a couple of other interesting sites for those of us who are worried but don't want to panic. One of them is a blog written by an eminent Nigerian infectious disease epidemiologist who has worked on several WHO outbreak responses. One is a good attempt by the Lagos state government with partners, including the WHO, to educate people, including articles written in pidgin English to help those with low levels of education.

You too can help, by reading these articles, finding out the facts and then passing them on to less educated Nigerians at your place of work, or where you live, to educate them, get them to help in stopping the outbreak spreading and calm their fears. Don't stand idly by and expect everything to be done for you, help yourself and help others to try and contain this before it gets a lot worse.



* Africa's biggest city has confirmed 10 cases of Ebola

* Litany of errors enabled Liberian to infect many

* Contact tracing tough in chaotic city of 21 million

* Ebola not air or water borne like urban epidemic diseases

* Health experts face superstition, ignorance about Ebola

By Tim Cocks

LAGOS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - When Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer collapsed at Lagos airport, he brought Ebola into a potentially ideal place for the deadly virus to spread - a vast, dirty, overcrowded city where tracing carriers and their contacts is a major problem.

Sawyer's arrival last month from Liberia - which along with Sierra Leone and Guinea lies at the centre of an outbreak that has killed more than 1,000 people - caught authorities in the Nigerian commercial capital unprepared.

By the time they realised where he was from or what illness he had, Sawyer had had contact with dozens of people. Lagos has now had 10 cases of Ebola, an illness spread by contact with the fluids of an infected person.

As Africa's biggest economy, Nigeria has a better health system than the other west African countries which are among the poorest in the world, and Ebola doesn't spread through the air or water supply as with many other epidemic diseases.

But health experts - who are trying to overcome superstition and public ignorance about Ebola as well as the disease itself - say there is now only a short opportunity to find and lock down other infected people before the outbreak in the city of 21 million gets out of hand.

"Lagos is big, it's crowded. It would make in many ways a perfect environment for the virus to spread," said Nigerian epidemiologist Chikwe Ihekweazu, who runs website Nigeria Health Watch and worked on Ebola in South Sudan a decade ago.

"In the heart of Lagos, people live on top of each other, sharing bedrooms and toilets. In densely populated communities infection control becomes almost impossible to do well."

When Sawyer landed at Murtala Mohammed airport on July 20, none of the bystanders, airport staff or healthworkers who rushed to help him understood the danger they were in.

No one had the full body protection of mask, suit and gloves that are essential to prevent contagion, so his ill advised journey gave the world's worst Ebola outbreak a foothold in Africa's most populous nation.

Sawyer died five days later, followed by one of the nurses who first treated him. Eight others are confirmed infected and receiving treatment, including a hospital doctor.

"Unfortunately nobody knew the status of this person, no one knew the kind of illness that he had, no one knew he was coming," Lagos state health commissioner Jide Idris said. A health official said he had also been sick on the plane.

Sawyer was taken to First Consultants Hospital where, Idris said, he was treated "like any ordinary patient".

Hospital staff took blood samples, checked his temperature, treated his symptoms, which by then included severe vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding - all signs of late-stage Ebola.

"In the course of doing this, a lot of those health workers got infected," said Idris.

It took weeks to trace about 70 people who were primary contacts with Sawyer, multiplying the possible avenues of contagion in the meantime.

Tom Frieden, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which is helping to fight the West African outbreak, said he was "deeply, deeply concerned about the situation" in Lagos because of the city's size.

"If you leave behind even a single burning ember, it's like a forest fire. It flares back up," he told a U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs last week.


"ONE MAD MAN"

Nigerians are furious that Sawyer, whose sister had died of Ebola and who was himself under surveillance, was able to hop on a plane and give the virus a free ride to Nigeria.

"It is unfortunate that one mad man brought Ebola to us," President Goodluck Jonathan put it bluntly on Monday.

Sawyer, who worked as public health manager at an iron ore mining project of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, caught the disease from his sister who died in Monrovia of Ebola on July 8.

Liberia's Information Minister Lewis Brown told Reuters that Sawyer had travelled against medical advice. ArcelorMittal said there were no more cases among its employees and contractors in the country "at this time".

The arrival of the virus in Lagos has raised global attention to the biggest and most complex outbreak so far of Ebola, which has no proven cure and was first detected in 1976 in the forests of then Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo.

In many ways, Africa's top oil producer is in a better position than the other three affected countries. According to consultancy DaMina Advisors, it has one doctor per 2,879 people - compared with one per 86,275 in Liberia.

While public doctors are striking over pay, Nigeria has the money to mobilise enough health workers for now.

Recent progress in tracing Sawyer's contacts, though it got off to a slow start, gives some cause for hope, experts say.

Yet because it is a city of migrants, Lagos is a potential springboard for Ebola to spread across Nigeria. "There's a lot of mobility within the country. If infected people end up taking taxis to their villages, then we're in trouble," said Ihekweazu.


"PEOPLE ARE AFRAID"

Alarm bells first went off when the hospital ran I.D. checks on Sawyer two days after his arrival, and figured out belatedly that he was Liberian who had come from Monrovia, Idris said.

They quickly isolated him and tested him for Ebola. Yet even after that, nurses continued treating Sawyer without protection, so "the chances of infection again went up".

Tracing Sawyer's contacts aboard the flight then took time because the airline produced a passenger list only after a week.

Three weeks later, 177 primary and secondary contacts of Sawyer's have been traced and all are under surveillance, federal Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said on Monday.

Chukwu also announced measures to contain the disease, including training health care professionals in surveillance of possible cases, putting port officials on red alert, and a public awareness campaign in multiple languages.

In its built-up metropolitan areas, Lagos has 20,000 people per square km (50,000 people per square mile), the state government says, about the same as other overcrowded cities such as Mumbai and Dhaka.

Sanitation is at least as bad as either of the other two, with most Lagosians urinating and defecating in the open.

Both walls leading to the entrance to the now closed First Consultants hospital have "Do Not Urinate Here" stencilled on them, though judging by the smell no one pays much attention.

Against one, an old woman sells a kaleidoscopic array of flip-flop sandals flowering out of a rusty wheelbarrow. A child hawks plastic bags of pineapple slices next to an open drain.

Almost every bit of this street in downtown Obalende, a mishmash of rundown colonial buildings and tin roofed shacks, has somebody walking, standing, sitting down or trading on it.

"We've never had such a situation before, never had Ebola in a large, densely populated area like Lagos," said John Vertefeuille, leader of the CDC's response team for the city. The real problem "is identifying suspected patients ... and making sure that we find every contact", he told Reuters. "That's our priority."

Public education is another essential. Boyai Sanusi, who runs a bag-making shop on a street opposite the hospital, was shocked when he heard Ebola was on his doorstep, but confesses he has no idea how it is spread. "People are afraid," he said. "They don't know what to do."

David Heymann from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an expert on the virus that struck near Congo's Ebola river almost 40 years ago, said Nigeria needed to overcome the problem. "They should be making use of every channel of communication in Lagos, every radio station in every ethnic language should be talking about this, explaining the symptoms over and over again," he told Reuters.


FAITH HEALERS AND WITCH DOCTORS

Poor education and superstition has long been good business for traditional doctors and faith healers in a region where sickness is often seen as the work of devils or mischievous ancestral spirits.

Early in the alert, Lagos state authorities became alarmed by some claims of miracle cures circulating, and threatened to prosecute anyone claiming they could heal Ebola victims.

Nigerian Pastor Ituah Ighodalo had to take down a Facebook posting in which he said U.S. preacher John G. Lake once cured Ebola victims "with bare hands" and "brought to an abrupt end the spread of the deadly virus". Lake died in 1935, four decades before Ebola was discovered.

But the main worry was "Prophet" T.B. Joshua, pastor of one of Nigeria's biggest churches who draws tens of thousands from all over West Africa, lured by claims his divine healing powers can cure ailments including HIV/AIDS and spine damage.

He was due to hold a convention last weekend, prompting fears of Ebola victims showing up seeking miracles, but after a Lagos state delegation visited Joshua, he agreed not to hold it, and he told followers from Ebola-hit countries to stay away.

On social media, a claim that eating bitter kola nuts and another that drinking salt water can prevent Ebola went viral, and Chukwu warned those spreading the rumours would be arrested.

The Vanguard newspaper daily reported this week that two people died drinking salt water in Jos city. That would make misinformation about the disease in Nigeria so far as deadly as Ebola itself. (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Johannesburg, Michele Gershberg in Washington and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and David Stamp)



Nigeria Health Watch (http://nigeriahealthwatch.com/ebola-in-nigeria-should-we-be-worried/)

Ebola Alert (http://www.ebolaalert.org/)

Believe me, not everything issued by Nigerian institutions is bad. These are 2 very good and informative websites which will give you information to help educate those with little or no education. Thanks for helping :ok:

[unstable load]

Keke Napep,
Interesting purely from the effect a full scale outbreak will have on society, Sir. I was not being flippant, apologies if it came out that way.

Right now, I am in PH, scheduled in 'till end September, so whatever happens, I will be included, one way or another.

As for the masses and their reliance on Charlatans, believe me, it's not an exclusively Nigerian thing. They are all over the world.

I have been reading up on this and will take a look at your links, thanks for them.
What I find interesting is sitting in the crew room listening to the chatter around Ebola and the difference of opinions is vast. From informed, sensible input to what on the surface, appears to be completely howling at the moon stupid.
It is going to take a lot more than Goodluck Jonathan's 11 million to counter Ebola, it is going to take a fundamental change in social thinking, because as long as people cling to the past and what their Priests say and refuse to accept that certain practices are actually, surprisingly, NOT the White man trying to undermine their culture, then Africa in general and Nigeria in particular is in for a rough ride.

[helipiloto]

I've noticed that in the past few days several people from HR Bristow are sending emails to everyone reminding them to check and update if necessary their next of kin and contact details in case of emergency on iconnect (Bristow's HR online tool). I wonder why? Is there anything about Ebola that they are not telling us? After all, if Ebola is simply avoided by washing your hands more often, not touching others and preparing your own food, why this sudden worry about everyone updating their personal details??

[unstable load]

Well, regardless of how apparently "difficult" it is to get infected, maybe it'd be prudent to get the correct info for the record in case the driver rolls the bus on the way home one evening, or something similarly inane.

[SirKORSKY]

Getting kicked out of Polo Suites is the latest example of Management eager to spend money on anything except our comfort.

(Could have invested it in proper fire prevention, detection, and extinguishers @ NAF?)

PH accommodation for Bristow staff is an on-going problem that we should stand together in protest!

[Keke Napep]

Accommodation in Port Harcourt has been a joke for a long time ever since Bristow decided to save money and move from the location with probably the best security and housing in Port Harcourt, to a series of hotels and apartment where security is a joke. As for the BRC in Lagos, that's been a joke for years and the only sensible thing would be to raze it to the ground and build a place fit to live in :ugh:
With the AS332 fleet soon to depart some pilots are now being laid off, as well as those who've had enough and departed for what they hope will be greener partners.
The main Bristow website is also a joke, still listing Rupert Atkins (now happily retired) and Grant Witham as Agip base managers.
On the Bristow Search and Rescue website they also say We have provided SAR services in all the countries in which we operate. Bristow Search and Rescue (http://bristowsar.com/index.php/operations/). However, since the SAR S92 failed to go ahead, the only SAR service that I know of which we provide is the one very limited Bell 412 for day emergency operations at QIT.

Meanwhile we now have 12 confirmed Ebola cases in Lagos, of whom, 4 have died. There are 189 cases under surveillance in Lagos and 2 in Enugu. 5 are said to have almost fully recovered. It's difficult to have much faith in these figures as the Registrar of the Medical Laboratory Council of Nigeria has said that Nigeria has no laboratory with the required biosafety levels needed for the diagnosis of the virus (level 4 is required, but Nigeria has nothing better than level 3). He explained that the labs are capable of detecting the virus, but without level 4 containment, the outcome could be very hazardous. The only places where Ebola suspects testing can be done at the moment are the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta or the Institute Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal. Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory, buttressing the fact that people are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus!

The WHO has not recommended any travel bans for airlines flying to Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea, though many airlines have now suspended flights to those countries. Kenya Airways now joins, British Airways, Togo’s ASKY Airlines, Arik Air of Nigeria, Gambia Bird, Air Cote d'Ivoire and Emirates who have all suspended flights to and from the affected nations, though not to Nigeria.

[TIMTS]

I asked about SAR when I first started flying for PAAN. I was then told to not worry about it, since I would be floating in a cauldron with carrots and onions by the time any SAR helicopter could reach me...

[SirKORSKY]

Anyone know where our personal-effects have gone while we're on leave?

And the new digs, how nasty for those of us living in a hotel now moved to flats with kitchens requiring a cook!

AGIP having lost RA + GW in the space of 3 months tells me everything needed.

As far as NAF is concerned leaving VonZorgs + VonFudge-aronso in charge means there is not enough beer in Port Harcourt to put up with that MIS-MANAGEMENT!

Are there Angels out there? Save us please-o!

[Keke Napep]

SirK, you're right. Port Harcourt and Lagor are just run on the basis of cronyism now, harking back to stories of the worst days of Bristow many years ago. How is this once mighty company fallen? :ugh:

[Boudreaux Bob]

Fallen.....just the same old Wheel going round and round, Mate!

[Keke Napep]

It's not just the cost in human terms, but the long term economic effects on this region which are now beginning to show according to an article in Foreign Policy.


The death toll in the worst Ebola outbreak in history topped more than 1,200 as of Tuesday, according to the World Health Organization. The good news is that, for now, new cases appear to be limited to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. The bad news is that even if the outbreak doesn't spread beyond West Africa, the economic and political fallout in this fragile part of the world will likely last years, experts said.

The outbreak is hitting some of the poorest and most politically unstable countries on Earth. Endemic public health problems besides Ebola afflict the region. Infectious diseases, including polio, which has yet to be eradicated in Nigeria, plague the area. A 2009 study by Oxfam found that illiteracy rates in West Africa are the highest in the world. The region is also dealing with the threat from Islamic extremism, most notably Boko Haram in Nigeria. Sierra Leone and Liberia, racked by years of civil war, are trying to transition from post-conflict societies to stable government.

The outbreak comes at an inopportune time for the region. Prior to the outbreak, the Nigerian economy was being celebrated as the largest in Africa, with a GDP of $510 billion, compared with second-place South Africa, with a GDP of $353 billion. Sierra Leone is attempting to draw foreign investment to its diamond industry and saw its GDP grow 20.1 percent from 2012 to 2013. In 2013, Guinea's GDP grew a modest 2 percent.

All of these positives are now overshadowed by the bleak prediction of Ebola's ramifications in the region. The World Bank estimates that Guinea's GDP will shrink between 3.5 and 4.5 percent this year as Ebola roils the agricultural sector and discourages regional trade. Liberia's finance minister, Amara Konneh, lowered the country's GDP estimates by 5.9 percent because of the outbreak. Bismarck Rewane, CEO of the Financial Derivatives Company, a Lagos-based financial advisory and research firm that manages $18 million in assets, told CNBC Africa on Monday, Aug. 18, that Nigeria could lose at least $3.5 billion of its $510 billion GDP. Moody's has already warned that the virus could hinder the region's energy sector.

Matt Robinson, senior credit officer at Moody's in London, wrote last week that the Ebola pandemic would bring "significant economic" disruptions. "If a significant outbreak emerges in the Nigerian capital of Lagos, the consequences for the West African oil and gas industry would be considerable," his note read. "Any material decline in production would quickly translate into economic and fiscal deterioration."

The total economic consequences won't be known until the outbreak truly subsides. If history is any indication, the blow is likely to be enormous and disproportionate to the death toll. For instance, the 2003 SARS outbreak, which killed 800 people, inflicted some $50 billion in damages to the global economy, according to the Economist. Ebola could be even worse.

Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University who closely tracks global instability, said the pandemic could grind regional commerce to a halt. That, combined with concerns about those governments' ability to prevent Ebola from hindering regional commerce, threatens to derail the area's recent progress.

"If the outbreak keeps going, it could be devastating," Hanke told Foreign Policy. "The one thing that keeps things going is private trade and commerce. If you start shutting that down, the economic impacts could be enormous."

This holds true for Nigeria, whose economy stands to shrink by less than 1 percent because of the outbreak. David Fidler, an associate fellow at the Center on Global Health Security at London's Chatham House, said that even a small economic disruption in a country as fragile as Nigeria could have far-reaching effects on Nigeria's travel, agricultural, and energy sectors. According to the International Monetary Fund, the energy sector accounts for 96 percent of Nigeria's export revenue.

"The spread into Nigeria is bad news," he said. "It creates the perception … that their government, the economy, and society lack sustainable capacity to engage in economic activity, to usefully take in investment."

Fidler said the government's struggles to contain the Ebola outbreak, which has infected 15 people and killed four people there, could lead some investors to conclude that the country isn't a safe place for their money. Nigeria has seen its GDP growth rate increase from 3.64 percent in the first quarter of 2013 to 6.77 percent in the same quarter of 2014, but Ebola -- along with the Boko Haram threat -- could lead to a slowdown.

"This is not what you want on a brochure asking people to come do business," Fidler said.

Bongo Adi, a professor of business at the Lagos Business School, told Foreign Policy that the Nigerian business community and the general public are gripped by fear. He said that Nigerian consumer demand, which he estimates already dropped 3.4 percent this year because of the Boko Haram crisis, is "expected to fall further."

Adi added that the country's paranoid response to the outbreak is only making matters worse. Nigerian social media has spread rumors of the effectiveness of consuming a saltwater drink known as the "blood of Christ" to prevent the disease. Government officials have been just as bad: Last week, Nigeria's health minister was forced to recant a claim he made on national television that there was a miracle cure for Ebola circulating through the Nigerian diaspora.

"Perhaps worse than the real Ebola epidemic, is the swath of … rumors that have grown out of it," Adi said.

Further complicating matters is Nigeria's overpopulation, especially in and around Lagos -- where some 21 million people live -- and in the Niger Delta, the country's oil-producing region. In both places, too many people and poor sanitation have allowed diseases largely eradicated in less crowded living conditions to thrive.

"We are talking about environments where diseases such as typhoid and cholera -- all diseases borne via the food and water chain -- are still endemic," Adi added. "In the event that [Ebola] makes it into the food chain -- a very likely scenario given the level of infrastructure decay, poor sanitation awareness, and unhygienic practices -- the damage would expectedly be of colossal proportions."

According to Chatham House's Fidler, combating sophisticated medical problems like Ebola in West Africa could make attracting foreign investment even more difficult. This would continue a troubling trend for the region; according to the 2013 World Investment Report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, direct foreign investment into West Africa fell by 5 percent in 2013, from $17.6 billion to $16.8 billion.

"There are wider multiplier effects" in post-conflict countries, he said, referring to weak political institutions, public health infrastructure, and corrupt and inept militaries. "It just feeds stereotypes about African countries not being able to tend to their own affairs."

[unstable load]

Rumours of a cull at the Centre of Excellence. Anyone heard anything?

[Keke Napep]

UL,
Not heard anything except for C de M being binned - last of a long line of people that's happened to.
I've heard more about the culling of pilots at Bristow with the Super Pumas being disposed of next month. :*

[fluffy5]

Yep the culling is going on there mr c d m was let go, and some new pilots that have only just about to get on line, also admin and others in a mass cost cutting exercise. I was one of them, waiting to go back on tour, no email to say I was terminated, no response from them, looks like I will not be paid either. Such professionals....

Fluffy

[MamaPut]

'The Centre of Excellence' has had a bad reputation for years for not paying people who leave or are 'let go' :mad:. There have been many warnings about them on this forum before, but people always think they'll get better and it can't happen to them. It still does and it always will with that company. They must owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to people who were silly enough to believe they could beat the system, but Aderemi Makanjuola didn't make it to the Forbes list of 'Ten Nigerian Multi-Millionaires You've Never Heard Of', by being generous with his money.
Bristow is getting worse too. Polo Suites closed and that had possibly the best accommodation in Port Harcourt. With the 332s going at least 4 pilots being laid off. Still no new HoFO or Training Manager so amazed they can even maintain their AOC.
Aero seems to be going down the tubes. Their GM has already deserted the sinking ship for a new job flying a new AW139 in Benin Republic. I heard NNPC may be selling their helicopters, so not much work left for Aero.
PAAN have not replaced their 2 base managers who stepped down. The Head of Flight Ops and his deputy will now take over those jobs as well.
After CHC came back in and chose a new partner, it may be that they'll be the only company worth working for here any more. Though with their recent IPO having raised only $300 million of the cash they needed, leaving First Reserve Corporation only 29% of the company and private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice now owning 45% after their purchase of $500 million worth of shares, nobody really knows what will happen to them in the next couple of years,
It looks as if there may be big changes here during the next 18 months - probably not for the better :{

[helipiloto]

Well folks, it‘s official. Pretty much since the Ebola outbreak started in Nigeria, Bristow Helicopter‘s GM in Nigeria Akin Oni has left the country and is MIA.

This reminds me of when The Costa Concordia, a big cruise ship, was sinking just off the coast of Italy a couple of years ago and the "captain", a Mr Schettino, was the first one to abandon the ship.

:D

[SirKORSKY]

Does it matter if AO is away playing golf in Houston with BC if OO has his hands on the day-to-day tiller?

They could always insert HW if his health continues to improve!

If only we knew the "good old days" ended in 2007 with gun-fire in Eket; no more half-days, golf, or bush-bar stopping on the way home from QIT by taxi.

The new HoFO arrives from Alaska as DD slides out the door same time this month; another typical shabby hand-over!

(Chinese curse - May we live in interesting times)

:cool:

[Keke Napep]

According to the WHO, 'shadow zones' may be concealing the true magnitude of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The magnitude of the world's worst Ebola outbreak, especially in Liberia and Sierra Leone, has been concealed by families hiding infected loved ones in their homes and the existence of "shadow zones" that medics cannot enter, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

The WHO's warning came as it announced that Ebola epidemic in West Africa has led to 1,427 deaths out of 2,615 known cases including two new cases reported in Nigeria.

The UN health agency issued a situation assessment detailing why the outbreak in West Africa had been underestimated, following criticism that it had moved too slowly to contain the killer virus, now spreading out of control.

"Many families hide infected loved ones in their homes. As Ebola has no cure, some believe infected loved ones will be more comfortable dying at home," the WHO statement said.

Others, it added, deny that a patient has Ebola and believe that care in an isolation ward - viewed as an incubator of the disease - will lead to infection and certain death. "Most fear the stigma and social rejection that come to patients and families when a diagnosis of Ebola is confirmed."

"These are fast-moving outbreaks, creating challenges for the many international partners providing support. Quantities of staff, supplies, and equipment, including personal protective equipment, cannot keep up with the need. Hospital and diagnostic capacities have been overwhelmed.

“Many treatment centres and general clinics have closed. Fear keeps patients out and causes medical staff to flee."

An additional problem is that corpses are often buried without official notification, the WHO said, while an additional problem is the existence of numerous "shadow zones", or rural villages where there are rumours of cases and deaths that cannot be investigated because of community resistance or lack of staff and transport, the UN health agency added.

It noted that the presence of patients from these other communities was resented by the West Point community in Liberia, and this resentment contributed to the riot and subsequent looting, in which potentially contaminated materials were carried into these communities.

The WHO said its epidemiologists in Sierra Leone and Liberia are working with other agencies, including Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to produce more realistic estimates and thus communicate the true magnitude of needs.

[MamaPut]

Many Lagos hospitals are now turning away patients they suspect may have Ebola. Other diseases, such as malaria and typhoid, have similar symptoms so hospitals are frightened they may be admitting Ebola patients who they don't have the skills, equipment or resources to deal with. This is leading to people treating themselves at home - not good.

I see some Air Chance cabin crew are now refusing to fly on Lagos flights because they're worried about being exposed to Ebola.

As for Bristow management, I wasn't aware we have any :}. You'd think that by now, after the last attempt to send in a HoFO with no Nigeria experience, they'd think twice about bringing in someone from outside. Nigeria is a difficult place to be a manager in, especially for someone who's never done it here before. The last 2 HoFOs have made little or no impact on the place, unless you think powder blue flight suits represent a big step forward! The new man will probably be heavily advised by OO. It seems that Eket is one of the few places which is fairly well managed these days. I think helipiloto is wrong about Akin (who is MD, not GM). He's basically a decent man but since being promoted into his present position, he's changed because of all the pressure from Houston and has to toe the company line even when he doesn't agree with it.

The culling at Caverton is probably just so that the senior managers can have more perks and bigger cars :\

[SirKORSKY]

The new big man on campus is JJ

[SirKORSKY]

So we had;

SS/Tough, smart, aware

(PG/Chewing, spitting, sitting)

DD/Related to Oscar Pistorius; explains a lot

and now JJ, assisted by OO (Oh-oh!)

Funny in an alphabetical kind of way.

At least we now have 2 x D/CP + 2 x CP @ NAF to buffer the inexperience, brutality, and lack of forward-thinking in our near future?

[Keke Napep]

SirK,
Though I have no love for our management, I think you're being a bit unfair actually.
SS was actually number 2 to the bright but idle PW, who was sacked a year before SS retired.
PG never quite grasped Nigeria, sat, spat, chewed but was sacrificed to the frogs (who hated him as much as he hated them) by one nasty bit of work who was forced out himself soon after.
DD is not related by blood to Oscar Pistorius so that's a bit below the belt. I think he meant well but was pretty ineffectual.
Now of course, JJ could be the famous engineer of that name, renowned for sitting in his office because he was too fat to actually climb up on to an aircraft and do a preflight, then sign off after one of his minions had be sent out to do the work.
Of course the problem is that JJ is going to come heavily under the influence of Wacko Jacko, so he stands little real chance of making any impact :(

Meanwhile, in echoes of the IS campaign in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram has now proclaimed an Islamic caliphate in the North East of our country :ugh::mad:


Boko Haram proclaims ‘Islamic caliphate’

Boko Haram’s leader says he has created an Islamic caliphate in a northeast Nigeria town seized by the insurgents earlier this month, in a video obtained by AFP.

‘Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in [the town of] Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate,’ Abubakar Shekau said in the 52-minute video.

He declared that Gwoza, in Borno state, now has ‘nothing to do with Nigeria’.

‘By the grace of Allah we will not leave the town. We have come to stay,’ said Shekau, who has been designated a global terrorist by the United States and sanctioned by the UN Security Council.

The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) earlier this month confirmed reports that Gwoza was under rebel control.

Boko Haram is also believed to be in control of other areas near Gwoza in southern Borno, as well as large swathes of territory in northern Borno and at least one town in neighbouring Yobe state.

Mapping the precise areas which have fallen into Islamist hands is nearly impossible.

There are few humanitarian workers on the ground in the northeast, travel is dangerous and the region, which has been under a state of emergency since May of last year, has poor mobile phone coverage.

Experts have described Boko Haram’s gains in recent weeks as unprecedented, saying the group was closer than ever to achieving its goal of carving out a strict Islamic state across northern Nigeria.

But many analysts believe the military has the capacity to reverse the insurgents’ advance.

Soldiers this week refused to deploy to Gwoza without better weapons in an apparent mutiny.

AFP

Then we have not so much an Ebola crisis as a healthcare crisis in the poor countries of West Africa

Ebola is a warning sign of a much bigger crisis

A frightening disease hit an African country this month, infecting thousands of people and killing dozens. Hospital wards were jammed, health workers struggled to cope. As cases soared, overwhelmed officials called the impact “staggering.”

But this outbreak didn’t provoke any global headlines, because it was just another cholera outbreak in Ghana – an almost annual event in the capital, Accra.

Ebola, of course, has captured the media’s attention: It has a much higher death rate than other diseases, and it has had a devastating effect on Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The world is right to send medical aid to those countries and to stay alert to suspected new cases. But it’s also true that Ebola is less contagious than other diseases; it is transmitted by bodily fluids, not by air, water or mosquitoes. The virus has been spread by commercial airplane only once, by an ill passenger to Nigeria.

Other diseases, including malaria and diarrheal diseases such as cholera, routinely kill far more people than Ebola across Africa. In the Ghana outbreak alone, more than 3,100 people were infected and nearly 50 were killed. Even at the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak, malaria has caused up to 35 times more deaths than Ebola this year.

But Ebola is a warning sign of a much bigger crisis: the fragility of African health and sanitation systems after many years of poverty, illiteracy, neglect and, in some countries, catastrophic civil war. Even in countries that have recently seen impressive economic growth and foreign investment, the money is failing to reach the hospitals and health-care workers who can prevent disease outbreaks.

Government authority has been almost non-existent in many West African regions, including, crucially, the border crossings in the Ebola “hot zone” where a million people live. Hospitals and clinics, meanwhile, are severely under-staffed, suffer from shortages of equipment (even such basics as disposable rubber gloves) and medicine, and often lack even electricity and running water.

Everywhere the signs of state collapse have been exposed. Bodies of Ebola victims, often lie uncollected in homes and streets for days at a time. Some hospitals have been completely abandoned after staff and patients fled. Quarantine efforts sometimes fail because people simply walk around the checkpoints.

The spread of Ebola out from the villages of southern Guinea, the source of the current outbreak, was fuelled by a similar state failure. Guinea’s first cases were confirmed in March, and by April the virus was taking hold. But the health system was so inadequate, and ignorance so widespread, that many people with the Ebola virus decided to cross over the poorly controlled border to Sierra Leone, where they sought treatment from a herbalist who claimed to have the power to cure Ebola.

Instead of curing others, she soon became infected with the Ebola virus and died. Mourners at her funeral then spread the disease across the region, according to published reports. The herbalist’s death led to hundreds of new cases of the disease in Sierra Leone.

Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, says the Ebola outbreak has “allowed the world to see what can happen when a lethal and deadly dreaded virus takes root in a setting of extreme poverty and dysfunctional health systems.”

The hardest-hit countries “have only recently emerged from years of conflict and civil war that have left their health systems largely destroyed or severely disabled and, in some areas, left a generation of children without education,” Dr. Chan said in a report this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“In these countries, only one or two doctors are available for every 100,000 people, and these doctors are heavily concentrated in urban areas. Isolation wards and even hospital capacity for infection control are virtually non-existent. Contacts of infected persons are being traced but not consistently isolated for monitoring.”

It’s clear that the world neglected the Ebola outbreak when it first emerged. Only a few aid agencies, notably Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), responded speedily to the crisis. The United Nations health agency, the WHO, was slow to act. But governments in Africa have also failed to invest in health. Most countries hit by Ebola were spending less than $100 annually per person on health care before the outbreak began.

In Sierra Leone, for example, there is just one physician for every 45,000 people. In Liberia, the ratio is even worse: one physician for every 70,000 people. (In Canada, by contrast, there is a physician for every 476 people. Some Canadian hospitals have more doctors than an entire country in the Ebola zone.) After the outbreak began, some of these few doctors fled the country or quit their jobs, and only about 50 doctors are still working in Liberia right now, according to one estimate.

As the Ebola crisis deepens and the medical burden becomes greater, the worst-hit countries have become so desperate for revenue that they’ve issued treasury bills as a crude way to raise money.

“The outbreak far outstrips their capacity to respond,” Dr. Chan said of the governments afflicted by Ebola. “The attitude of the public is summarized in two sad words: helpless and hopeless. The most urgent request is for more medical staff ... According to current estimates, a facility treating 70 patients needs at least 250 health care workers.”

Deep poverty and the legacy of civil war are among the key reasons for the poor health systems in these countries. But there is also growing evidence, across Africa, that most governments are failing to give enough priority to health care.

At a summit in Abuja in 2001, African nations pledged to increase their government health spending to 15 per cent of total government budgets. Today, only a few African nations have reached this target – and 11 governments have actually reduced their health spending since the Abuja summit.

Of the four countries hit by Ebola, three of them – Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – have lagged behind the goals in the Abuja Declaration. Guinea and Nigeria, in particular, are far behind the target, despite their substantial revenue from mining and oil in recent years. Liberia was the only one of the four countries to reach its Abuja spending goals. But even this has been inadequate, as the Ebola crisis quickly showed.

To make the situation even worse, illiteracy has hampered the efforts to educate people about disease prevention. In the Ebola-hit countries, there is widespread distrust of the health system and a preference for traditional healers. People see hospitals as prisons or death sentences, since Ebola patients usually don’t survive. They fear the stigma of being identified with Ebola, so they keep infected family members at home. Wild rumours have circulated, claiming that Ebola is a hoax, or a scam by governments to get money.

One of the biggest threats is the combined effect of many diseases at the same time. Because the Ebola outbreak has brought the health system to a standstill, common diseases such as malaria are going untreated, and death rates are rising – “which is completely ridiculous,” said Joanne Liu, a Canadian who is international president of MSF. “What needs to happen now is we need to be able to restore basic health-care access as soon as possible.”

In the Liberian capital, Monrovia, almost every hospital has been shut down by the Ebola crisis. Pregnant women have been seen wandering the streets, unable to get care to deliver their babies. Some have died of labor complications as a result. Others have suffered miscarriages. “People are knocking on our doors in desperate need of health care,” Dr. Liu told a briefing in Geneva.

And then there are the quieter health crises that don’t draw any publicity at all. In Sierra Leone, more than 10,000 people are dependent on long-term life-saving drug treatment for HIV. When Ebola hit, the HIV treatment centres were so disrupted that many people stopped getting their medicine. In the months to come, they could become the victims that never get counted.

Globe & Mail


It all kind of puts the management inadequacies in Bristow into perspective really doesn't it? Righ now both my country and my company are going downhill and it makes me sad.

[Sevarg]

I don't think I have ever heard JJ (the 'engineer') better described.

[pohm1]

BBC Link (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28966258)

Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola death outside Lagos – a doctor in the oil hub of Port Harcourt.

A further 70 people are under surveillance in the city, while his wife has been put under quarantine.

The doctor had treated a patient, who later recovered, who had met Patrick Sawyer, the man who took Ebola from Liberia to Nigeria.

West Africa's health ministers are meeting later to discuss how to tackle the world's most deadly Ebola outbreak.

More than 1,550 people have died, with more than 3,000 confirmed cases - mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Nigeria's Health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said the Port Harcourt doctor had died on 22 August, but the results of the tests have only just been made public.

More than 240 health workers have been infected with Ebola - a rate which the World Health Organization (WHO) said was "unprecedented".

It noted that in many cases protective suits, even rubber gloves and face masks, were not available.

The doctor becomes the sixth fatality in Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous country.

On Wednesday, Nigeria announced that schools would not reopen after holidays until 13 October in order to try and contain the disease.

P1

[Governormalfunction]

I hear through the proverbial grapevine that AGIP have closed their PH Base. Oil companies generally don't knee-jerk, so is it bigger than everyone fears?

[Boudreaux Bob]

How many folks have died of Malaria?

You don't hear much talk of that but yet Bristow has lost some folks to one of the biggest killers in the World.

WHO ranks Nigeria 75th in then World for Deaths due to Malaria.....with a rate of 74 per 100,000 people.

Ebola is far less common although far more deadly.


http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

[Sevarg]

Good luck to all out there, there's enough problems with out the big E to worry about. Best wishes to all and wash those glasses well.

[stacey_s]

As one who spent 12 years in Nigeria the second time round, 1987-2000 (Eket for 10 and a couple from Calabar/PH), first time 1977 for a few months.

I think I saw the best of times in EKET, I would love to go back to visit, but all my friends and probably correctly quote the old adage, don't go back it not what you remember, I'm sure it's not!!

I survived three serious bouts of Malaria, all hospital cases, one cerebal, now that was fun!! I was looked after in the UK by the tropical medical Institute from London for the first week in the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar, the second two weeks by the lovely nurses there at the time with a lot of pain killers (Diamorphine, off my head for a long time, but no pain). I knew three personal friends who all died from the big 'M' and count myself very lucky to still be here.

As for Ebola, boys, stay safe and look after yourselves, best of luck!

Stacey
(Doha)

[Phone Wind]

Boudreaux Bob,

Where do you get that Nigeria ranks 75th in the world for deaths from malaria? I'm just looking at the WHO Excel spreadsheet which shows that in 2012 there were an estimated 180,000 deaths from malaria in Nigeria out of a total 627,000 worldwide, making Nigeria the number one. In fact Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo together have around 40% of malaria deaths worldwide.

[Keke Napep]

The WHO now reports that the present strain of Ebola is mutating rapidly and could infect up to 20,000 people before it is contained, but this could take as long as 6 - 9 months.


Rapidly mutating Ebola could infect up to 20,000

The Ebola outbreak sweeping through West Africa will get significantly worse before it subsides, infecting as many as 20,000 people, the World Health Organisation said, even as US researchers announced plans to begin human safety trials next week in a race to develop an effective vaccine.
Adding more urgency to the crisis, new research detailed how the virus at the heart of the outbreak has mutated repeatedly in recent months, a fact that could hinder diagnosis and treatment of the devastating disease the longer the crisis stretches on. Five of the paper's 50 co-authors died of Ebola before they could see their findings about the sequencing of the virus' genome published.

Despite the bad news continuing to flow out of West Africa – of overfilled and understaffed treatment centres, of airlines suspending service into affected areas, of controversial quarantines, of body counts climbing by the day – Thursday also brought a sense that the international response to the crisis, widely criticised as slow and inadequate, is shifting into higher gear.

The World Health Organisation issued a "roadmap" aimed at stopping the Ebola outbreak within the next six to nine months. It includes dramatically scaling up efforts to contain the spread of the disease and treat those stricken by it, increased resources at hospitals and isolation centres, ensuring safe burials and more aggressive public awareness campaigns.
The agency said it also will work to clear logistical "bottlenecks" that have made it difficult to get disinfectants, body bags, gloves and other medical supplies to the areas where they are desperately needed.

The plan will cost an estimated $US490 million ($524 million) over the next six months and require thousands of experts and local volunteers, the agency said. That doesn't include support for other essential services or helping West African health systems recover from the epidemic.
The organisation also offered sobering new numbers of Ebola's toll in West Africa. At least 1552 deaths and 3069 people infected have been recorded in the four countries battling the virus – Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria – though the actual totals almost certainly are higher.
Scientists from the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, said the experimental vaccine that will undergo human trials beginning next week has shown promising results in non-human primates. If the trials are successful, officials said, they could have 10,000 doses available in short order to immunise health workers and others at risk of contracting Ebola.

The NIH and other groups, such as the British public health charity Wellcome Trust, are trying to line up similar human Ebola vaccine trials in Britain, Gambia and Mali beginning as early as next month. And the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is in talks with Nigerian officials about conducting trials in that country.
As researchers work toward effective treatments for Ebola, the study published on Thursday in Science offered new insights into the origins of the outbreak and how it ended up in West Africa. By genetically sequencing samples of the Ebola Zaire strain – one of five types known to infect humans – researchers said the virus appears to have diverged about a decade ago from a related strain in Central Africa, where previous outbreaks have occurred.
Ebola's arrival in Sierra Leone this spring appears to have begun with a single funeral, according to the findings. A young woman who had recently suffered a miscarriage arrived at Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone in May with a high fever. During her treatment, doctors discovered she had been infected with Ebola, becoming the country's first diagnosed case.
The woman recovered, but health workers who traced her contacts discovered that she and more than a dozen other women recently had attended the burial of a traditional healer who had been treating Ebola patients near the Sierra Leone-Guinea border. All had been infected.
The study also details more than 300 genetic mutations that make the present Ebola outbreak different from any in the past.
Washington Post

[Boudreaux Bob]

Phone,

It was some sort of report that popped up while googling. I did not retain the source for that.

Plainly, your information paints a far greater risk of dying from Malaria in Nigeria than mine did.

My direct experience was we always seemed to have someone ill with Malaria and as Stacy confirmed, some Deaths within our company staff.

I would suggest there is a greater risk of dying from Malaria than there is Ebola but that if One contracts Ebola that chance of dying is much worse than from a case of Malaria.

Either illness can lead to Death, just with a much greater certainty the One over the Other.

[pilot and apprentice]

AGIP was closed for a few hours. They are restricting access to essential personnel only but a large crowd wanted in. I would expect they wanted the security and access to the clinic after the latest E scare. Security forces were alerted, the gate closed, and mother nature brought in the downpour to disperse the mob.

The gate was reopened by evening.

There are still plenty of malaria cases ongoing at nearly all times as well. As for the stats, one is total deaths and one is rate. Both could be correct. Even a low rate will create a lot of deaths in a country with this many people!

[HU500D]

On August 26, 2014, the Ministry of Education in Abuja announced that all primary and secondary schools throughout Nigeria, both public and private, are to remain closed until Monday, October 13, 2014. The Ministry announced that these measures are being taken to prevent the introduction of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) into school communities. In addition, the Ministry requires that all private primary and secondary schools and summer classes currently being conducted be suspended immediately until October 13, 2014. The Minister of Education and all state commissioners of education will meet again on September 23, 2014 to review the situation in all states.

[Helinaut]

It has been rather quiet on pprune on the happenings at PH. Anyone still there with an update? :confused:

No information from management on what is happening. They were big on sending three mails and more a day when Ebola was still far away, but now Ebola is at PH and it got quiet! Hello!! Anybody home? What is happening? :eek:

Heard that all Agip expats were flown out to a safe location. Who is running the show now?

[Keke Napep]

Kaduna State has just had its first possible case of Ebola, in Zaria. A law student from ABU is presently quarantined pending the results of tests to confirm if he has the virus or not.

Yesterday the Director of the CDC gave a warning that EVD is spiralling out of control. He said that if the international acts quickly, it can be contained but the window of opportunity is closing rapidly. He is predicting a rapid increase in cases before it can be brought under control because it is moving faster than anyone anticipated. He also warned that the longer it continues the greater the likelihood that it will spread to more countries.

Meanwhile in the north east of my country, Boko Haram has now seized the strategically important town of Bama, despite denials from the military that government forces are losing control. Initially the BH fighters were driven back, but Nigeria Air Force pilots, mistaking the Nigerian army troops for BH, bombed our own forces, many of whom abandoned their guns and even their boots and joined the thousands of civilians fleeing to Maiduguri. Some Nigerian soldiers stationed in Maiduguri recently refused to deploy to Gwoza in an apparent mutiny, claiming they lacked the weapons to tackle the better-armed insurgents. It seems highly likely that BH are trying to encircle Maiduguri and capture it to make it their new capitol in a copy of what Islamic State has done with Mosul. If BH take over Borno State, it is also likely to take over a lot of territory in northern Cameroon. UNHCR now estimates that there are now 39,000 Nigeria refugees in Cameroon, 50,000 in Niger and 1,500 in Chad.

One Chatham house researcher thinks that unless the military changes its strategy it will be faced with an interminable insurgency:
In a paper for the Chatham House international affairs thinktank, Marc-Antoine Perouse de Montclos said Nigeria’s military faced fighting “an interminable insurgency” unless its strategy changed.
Military force should combine with police, judicial and local government reform as well as social and economic development to win hearts and minds in the troubled, impoverished region, he added.
But greater, direct military involvement from foreign powers, including neighbouring countries, “could incite the movement to open another front”, the researcher said.


The whole country is becoming destabilised just as we're in the period running up to our next presidential elections. This is not good. If GLJ is blocked from the presidency in 2015, or runs and loses, there is a real danger the country could erupt. On the other hand, if Jonathan runs and wins, the violence in the north will continue to burn, and very likely escalate.

[Keke Napep]

I'm happy to say that the student who was quarantined in Zaria has tested negative for Ebola :ok:

[helipiloto]

Ahhhh, Nigeria, what a wonderful place....

[SirKORSKY]

Engineering Manager for WASBU died of an apparent heart-attack in a Lagos hospital parking-lot on Monday. Voodoo worshipers refused to let him in the building for fear of Ebola; that's the state of affairs in this screwed-up country!

Rest in peace Kevin Furlong -

[GoodGrief]

Time has come.
Fly back to Nigeria or not? :ouch:

[Boudreaux Bob]

Is the Paycheck worth it?

[Keke Napep]

Boko Haram has now also overrun the town of Bama. Marte, Dikwa, Ngala, Gwoza, Madagali, Damboa, Buni Yadi and Banki were already under their control. If Maiduguri falls it will be very bad news and the whole of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa states and north west Cameroon could rapidly be taken by them.

The foreign ministers of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Benin, plus representatives from USA, Britain, France, Canada, the African Union and the UN are reported to have been in urgent talks as to what action can be taken to halt the advance as the whole region could become destabilised. Our government has pretty much lost control of the whole of north east Nigeria :(:ugh:

[SirKORSKY]

No one will care or change until or unless these NUTS come south to oil-country.

Even though the Italian expats have scampered away from AGIP base in PH, life goes on from NAF. (Bristow pilots forced to move out of own accommodation and sleep in empty pasta-eater's beds!)

Neither the world or our company gives a toss until killings or kidnaps happen again in Eket, Port Harcourt, or Lagos.

R U OK day on September 11th; wonder if anyone has the guts to stand-up and say "Hell No"!

(Or be like me and just keep whoring for the money with no expectation that any improvement will occur until further death, disease, or destruction?)

[Nigerian Expat Outlaw]

Seems this thread has become a bad news notification and a "let's slate the company", whichever company that may be, board.

Surely there must be some good or at least fairly good news to post ?

Don't get me wrong, if something is bad then a fair broadcast is proper, but looking back over the past few pages it seems nothing is right at all !

NEO

[Keke Napep]

NEO,
If you have any good news, please post it. Me, I fear for the safety of my family and the future of my company. I think we work for the same company, which used to be fairly good, but now all I see is chaos and confusion. I certainly have no idea of what's happening. A$$lick decimated the company when he was MD and now he's even more powerful, he's decimated it even more on his recent culling visit. Do you know what's happening with PAAN or BATS? One of my good friends works for BATS and he has no idea :ugh:.
ACN seems to be going down the toilet. The GM left and even JVdeM after 30 years of working for them has abandoned ship and gone to Caverton :ugh:.
I'm not from the north, but I have friends there who are seriously scared and with good reason. They see BH as an unstoppable force like Islamic State. Many of their weapons are taken from our demoralised army who just abandon weapons and uniform and rain away from them like the civilians in Gwoza, Banki and Bama. They are destroying bridges to stop the army getting into many areas near Maiduguri and most of the residents of Maiduguri are also in fear that it will soon be overrun and become the capital of a new caliphate. Even many Muslims there fear the arrival of BH and what will happen to their sons and daughters. More than 50,000 of mt countrymen are now refugees in Niger, a country much poorer than Nigeria and tens of thousands are refugees in Camerron, a country which is also likely to become seized and part of a new Islamic caliphate. Our army in the north has only managed to terrorise the population even more, and turn and run whenever they are attacked.
I don't know if you're in Lagos at the moment, but most people have given up shaking hands. More than 200 people in PH are being monitored for Ebola. A diplomat fled Lagos and infected a doctor in PH and at least 60 of his contacts there are classed by the WHO as 'high risk' contacts

It all started at the beginning of August, when a diplomat in Lagos violated a quarantine order and fled to Port Harcourt. That man infected a doctor at the port city, who then had contact with more than 200 people, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. About 60 people had what WHO calls "high-risk exposure" — they were in direct contact with the doctor or his bodily fluids.

“ It's like fighting a wildfire when the wind picks up. When embers start hopping to new places, you have to redistribute your resources when you'd prefer to focus all of them on a single front.
- Epidemiologist John Brownstein of Harvard University, on the spread of Ebola in Nigeria
The doctor secretly treated the diplomat in a Port Harcourt hotel room. The diplomat reportedly has survived.

The doctor developed symptoms — and thus became contagious to others — on Aug. 11. But for the next two days, he continued to treat patients in his private clinic, performing surgery on two.

As his Ebola symptoms worsened, but before he went into the hospital, the doctor had "numerous contacts" with relatives and friends who came to his home to celebrate the birth of a baby, the WHO said.

After he was hospitalized, the doctor was treated by the majority of the staff at the hospital's clinic over a six-day period, plus doctors at an outside ultrasound clinic. He also had contact with many members of his church, who visited to perform a healing ritual "said to involve the laying-on of hands," the WHO reports.

The doctor died on Aug. 22. His wife got Ebola but has survived. On Thursday the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health reported that the doctor's sister has Ebola.

Air traffic connections from West Africa to the rest of the world: While Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone don't have many flights outside the region, Nigeria is well-connected to Europe and the U.S.
Goats and Soda
A Few Ebola Cases Likely In U.S., Air Traffic Analysis Predicts
The WHO currently reports 21 cases of Ebola and seven deaths in Nigeria. According to Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, five of these cases — two of whom have died — are in the Port Harcourt cluster.

But WHO officials are very worried that Nigeria could see many more cases. "Given these multiple high-risk exposure opportunities, the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Port Harcourt has the potential to grow larger and spread faster than the one in Lagos," the WHO said.




I know that after your own recent survival you may be feeling invulnerable now. I can't imagine what you went through and survived. Most of us hope that will never happen to us, but many of us are afraid of what's happening in our country, militarily, health-wise and politically. I'd love to send my family away, but then I'd be accused of taking advantage of the fact that I'm in a well paid job and running scared. It's getting close to the point where I'm ready to take the criticism of friends and other family members to protect my family though.

If I hear some good news, I'll post it, but right now, the short term future is looking rather bleak

[pohm1]

The only good news for most is the homeward bound flight at the end of a hitch.

P1

[Good Vibs]

It seems most pilots, be it FW or RW, are a bunch of "Masochist".
Just read this thread or that of Arik or Max Air.
They still return and ask for more maltreatment!

The problem when you finish your tour and go home you know that you will return!

I had the same experience when living in Camp 10 in Warri.
I also returned despite all the kidnappings, power failures, etc.

Good luck to all of you.

[Keke Napep]

For those in Nigeria, or returning soon, the best website for genuine information on the Ebola outbreak, collating reports from a number of other organisations is
International SOS, Ebola in Africa (https://www.internationalsos.com/ebola/index.cfm?content_id=418&language_id=ENG)

[pohm1]

The problem when you finish your tour and go home you know that you will return!

My next is my last. :ok:

P1

[Keke Napep]

The latest news on Ebola as of today is:

Confirmed cases
19 confirmed cases. Lagos (15), Port Harcourt (4)
Source: Ministry of Health 8 September

Total cases (*)
19 confirmed cases with 7 deaths as at 8 September.
Source: Ministry of Health 8 September

UPDATES

8 September
The Ministry of Health has reported 19 confirmed cases, 15 in Lagos and 4 in Port Harcourt. The nineteenth case is the fiance of one of the primary contacts of the index case. He had a mild illness and has recovered. The sister of the Port Harcourt doctor who died has been discharged from the isolation ward. Lagos has 27 contacts under surveillance and Port Harcourt has 477.

There is some small good news as the Nigerian army is at last fighting back and according to Reuters has retaken the strategically important town of Bama, blocking the advance of BH towards Maiduguri. This time the Nigeria Air Force managed to attack BH fighters, not our own army :roll eyes:

However BH is now advancing into Adamawa state:

In addition to the fighting in Borno state, another Boko Haram column over the weekend pushed southwards into neighbouring Adamawa state, overrunning one town, Gulak, and attacking at least one more, Michika.

Locals reported the raiders were burning Christian churches, police stations and government offices as they went.

Nigeria's military had deployed reinforcements to Adamawa state to confront this threat, and was setting up roadblocks and positions around Mubi to prevent the militants from advancing further south, the government official in Abuja said.

Many local residents were fleeing to Yola, the Adamawa state capital, or to Gombe city in neighbouring Gombe state.

[pohm1]

Link (http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-air-marshal-quarantine-syringe-attack-nigeria/story?id=25353527)

US Air Marshal attacked in Lagos Airport with a liquid filled syringe.

Still struggling to find the good news in Nigeria.

P1

[Boudreaux Bob]

Do the folks in Houston pay for their own Coffee you wonder?:uhoh:

[pilot and apprentice]

LOLOLOLOLOLOL good one Bob

[Keke Napep]

I'm disturbed to read that Islamic State may now be offering advice to Boko Haram:

ISIS Offering Advice to Boko Haram

There is growing concern by intelligence agencies that what had been considered as mere symbolic links between the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria and Boko Haram in Nigeria may have developed into something more sinister.

It is feared that ISIS, which has set new records in cruelty, may now be offering Boko Haram advice on strategy and tactics, according to a report in a British newspaper yesterday.

The report is contained on page 30 of yesterday's edition of The Independent published in London.

The report said, "Intelligence agencies are concerned that what were once symbolic links between Isis and Boko Haram have now developed into a practical relationship with the Islamic State offering advice on strategy and tactics."

The newspaper said Boko Haram appears to have been emboldened by its recent gains and was "beginning to operate more like a conventional army in Borno and the neighbouring north-eastern states of Adamawa and Yobe".

Nigerian military authorities have contested the alleged gains by Boko Haram, saying counter-offensives have been launched to rout them.

But The Independent report, anchored by Cahal Milmo and Tom Witherow, quoted Nigeria Security Network, a coalition of security experts and academics, as saying "unless swift action is taken, Nigeria could be facing a rapid takeover of a large area of its territory reminiscent of Isis's lightning advances in Iraq."

According to the paper, "the nature of the threat was further underlined on Monday when a senior politician in Borno admitted that civil life in the state, home to three million people, has all but ground to a halt".

It recalled that the secretary to the Borno State government, Alhaji Baba Ahmad Jidda, had warned that, while at the moment most parts of Borno State were being occupied by Boko Haram insurgents, "government presence and administration was minimal or non-existent across

many parts of the state, with economic, commercial and social services totally subdued. Schools and clinics remain closed".

"Most settlements in the affected areas in the state have either been deserted or access to them is practically impossible. The threat to security of lives and property as a result of the criminal activities of the Boko Haram insurgents is everywhere," the SSG was quoted to have said.

I'm Eager to Return To Battle - Obasanjo's son

Lt. Col. Adeboye Obasanjo, son of former president Olusegun Obasanjo who was wounded in a fire-fight between the military and Boko Haram terrorists in Bazza on Monday, has expressed eagerness to return to the battleground.

The younger Obasanjo stated this yesterday when former vice president Atiku Abubakar paid him a visit at a government medical facility in Yola where he is receiving treatment.

Adeboye, who was reportedly in high spirits despite his injuries, is an army engineer recently deployed from Jos to join in the battle against the insurgents. He was injured during a battle to repel the insurgents at Michika in Adamawa State.

A source at the hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity also informed one of our correspondents that Atiku was impressed when the colonel informed him that he was eager to get back on his feet and return to his duty post.

He added that the former vice president praised the gallant spirit of Obasanjo, prompting him to comment that the trait was from his former boss.

"He was even marching before me, even as he was recovering from gunshots," Atiku reportedly said, while wishing him speedy recovery.

Gwoza Attacks: 20 Police Officers Still Missing- IGP

The acting inspector-general of police, Suleiman Abba, said yesterday that the police officers still missing after the attack by the Boko Haram sect on Police Training School, Gwoza, Borno State, were fewer than 20.

After the insurgents had invaded the place and launched a massive attack in August, 35 police officers were declared missing from the school.

But Abba, who told journalists after a meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo at the presidential villa that some of the missing officers had been found, vowed that his men would stop at nothing to ensure all the missing officers were traced and rescued.

He said, "Well, I must tell you that the turnout of those missing is still impressive because we have been able to trace some of the officers who have reported either back to their bases or their families. When you go through what they went through, the likelihood of you knowing what to do is not very tenable.

"There is a possibility that the decision of what to do may not be easily comprehensible. So some went back to their homes, but our concern is that once they are in safety we are satisfied, and the process of bringing them back to their units has already commenced.

"I must tell you it's just less than 20 but we are still concerned with every one of them and unless we are able to account for each and every one of them, we will not relent in the efforts of tracing them."

INEC Suspends Distribution Of PVCs In Boko Haram-controlled Areas In Nigeria

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended the distribution of permanent voter cards in Madagali, Michika, Maiha, Mubi North and Mubi South local government areas of Adamawa State for security reasons.

The resident electoral commissioner, Kasim Gaidam, stated this shortly after a meeting with security agencies, National Orientation Agency (NOA) and political party executives in Yola in preparation for the October 11 by-election in state.

It was resolved during the meeting that the distribution of the permanent voter cards should be suspended in Boko Haram-controlled areas of the state.

In a communiqué jointly signed by Gaidam and the state commissioner of police, AIG John Abakasanga, it was resolved that "the distribution of cards should be suspended in Madagali, Michika, Maiha, Mubi North and Mubi South local government areas for security reasons".

The statement indicated that the resolution was subject to approval by the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega.

Fintiri Visits Obasanjo's Son

Adamawa acting governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has visited the ailing son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Lt Col Adeboye Obasanjo, who was hospitalized at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, following gunshot wounds he received during a gun duel with Boko Haram insurgents at Bazza town, near Mubi.

Fintiri saluted the courage of the Nigerian soldiers who are battling to curtail the activities of the insurgents, adding that his government is ready and willing to cooperate with the military to end the insurgency. The people, he said, are proud of the soldiers who have lost their lives while defending their fatherland.

Adeboye, who was recuperating from the injuries, was said to be in a stable condition.

The chief information officer of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Mr Adamu Dodo, confirmed, "Yes, it's true that Obasanjo's son is recuperating after minor surgery and he is in stable condition."

Military begins onslaught against sect, recaptures Bazza

Reports also indicated that the Nigerian Army has started making headway in its onslaught against the insurgents. The troops were said to have recaptured Bazza, the home town of the general officer commanding (GOC), 3rd Division, Jos, Major Gen JS Zaruwa, which fell into the hands of the insurgents recently.

A security source told LEADERSHIP that troops have recaptured Bazza after a fierce battle in which soldiers killed several Boko Haram militants.

According to our source, "Our soldiers circled Baza and engaged the terrorists in a serious battle. We have now recaptured the town after repelling Boko Haram militants in the township."

Thousands of the residents of Gulak, Michika and Bazza had fled to neighbouring towns and Cameroon as Boko Haram unleashed mayhem on residents during their short reign over the towns.

Sources disclosed that successful attack on Boko Haram insurgents was made possible by an advanced team of Nigerian Air Force pilots who bombed the insurgents' command centres in Bazza.

APC Slams Jonathan For Hobnobbing With Modu Sherrif

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of exhibiting a shocking act of indiscretion by hobnobbing with an alleged Boko Haram sponsor, Ali Modu Sheriff, who is not known to have been investigated and cleared of the weighty allegation against him.

In a statement issued in London on Tuesday by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party wondered what message President Jonathan was sending to his compatriots and indeed to the international community when he took Modu Sheriff along during his visit to Chad Monday to confer with President Idriss Deby on cooperation against terrorism.

"This action by President Jonathan confirms what the APC has always believed: That the president either knows more than he is willing to admit on the issue of those who are behind the Boko Haram insurgency or he is willing to sacrifice the battle against terrorism on the altar of political expediency. Either way, this action by the president is the height of indiscretion at best, or a palpable exhibition of callowness at worst.

"It also confirms our fears that Modu Sheriff was planted as a mole in the APC by his friends in high places, who are jittery about the birth of the party and would do anything to destabilize it," it said.

APC said the president cannot pretend not to be aware of a report sent home by Nigeria's defence adviser in Ndjamena, Chad, in 2011, detailing the suspicious activities of Modu Sheriff in Chad concerning alleged Boko Haram sponsorship and asking the federal government to investigate him.

The party said it therefore beggars belief that President Jonathan would choose to take the same personality along with him to the same Chad on a trip to canvas cooperation against Boko Haram terrorists.

"If this is a joke, it is one joke taken too far, especially at a time that Nigeria has been losing territories after territories to Boko Haram; at a time that the same Modu Sheriff has been fingered by another source other than the Nigerian defence adviser in Chad, and at a time that calls are being made for an independent investigation into the allegation that Modu Sheriff and former army chief Azubuike Ihejirika are Boko Haram sponsors. "Or could it be the case of it takes a thief to catch a thief?" it queried.

APC said it was apparent that President Jonathan smuggled Modu Sheriff into his entourage, as the official statement announcing the trip never mentioned that the former governor of Borno State would accompany the president on the trip, even while the list of those to accompany the president was included in the statement.

Residents Storm Yola In Droves

Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, is witnessing a flurry of human traffic as fleeing residents from the northern parts of the state including Madagali, Michika and Mubi local government areas kept trooping into the state capital to escape the Boko Haram onslaught.

Motorists and commercial vehicle operators were said to have capitalized on the situation to charge exorbitant fares: they charged N5,000 per head instead of the N1,000 charged before.

A fleeing displaced person, Musa Kalgo, told LEADERSHIP that drivers have been charging exorbitant rates as fleeing persons have to pay the fares through their noses, just as some of them who could not afford the fares were stranded.

Vehicular movement to the Jambutu motor park was high as people kept trooping into the state capital, making Yola and environs jam-packed.

It was also learnt that many people were stranded at the Mubi motor park as the number of people leaving the area were more than the available commercial vehicles.

A fleeing resident who chartered a pick-up van to convey his property to Yola said he paid N50,000 for the items to be conveyed to Yola from Mubi, which is about 200km from Yola.

Many of the fleeing families who do not have relatives in Yola have started taking refuge at public institutions, especially primary schools.

Boko Haram: FG Cautions Against Purchase Of Used Phone, SIM Cards

The federal government yesterday cautioned citizens against purchase of used GSM phones and pre-registered SIM cards from uncertain sources.

The coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mr Mike Omeri, who stated this while briefing journalists at the centre in Abuja, warned that such phones and SIM cards might have been used for terrorist and other untoward activities.

"This caution has become necessary to save members of the public the embarrassment of being apprehended for criminal activities committed with the phones and SIM cards found in their possession," he explained.

Omeri also advised members of the public to report cases of stolen phones and SIM cards to the police, while refraining from purchasing second-hand phones and SIM cards from unknown sources

On recapturing of Bama, Omeri said it attests to the renewed zeal of commitment which officers and men of the Nigerian armed forces have shown towards defending the country and safeguarding her territorial integrity

Omeri, who said he just spoke with the son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Lt-Colonel Adeboye Obasanjo, who was shot and injured by Boko Haram members when they attacked the platoon he was leading at Bazza, said the colonel was in high spirits and ready to get back to the field as soon as he gets well.

130 flee Maiduguri crisis, enter Kebbi.

About 130 displaced people comprising women and children fled the ongoing crisis in Maiduguri yesterday and escaped to Jega in Kebbi State.

The displaced, who were carried by two trailers from the villages of Maiduguri with their property items and animals, looked terrified and tired from the long journey. They recounted how they escaped and lost their loved ones to the attacks by the insurgents.

Dahara Zaki, one of the displaced women from Doron Baga in Borno, recounted her ordeal: "We fled to rescue our lives but my father-in-law and his brother were all slaughtered by the gunmen. They have also torched our villages, so we had to run for our lives. I have 11 children," she said.

Insurgency Is Politically Motivated - Kalu

Former governor of Abia State Chief Orji Uzor Kalu yesterday declared that the insurgency ravaging the northern-eastern part of the country is politically motivated.

The presidential candidate of the People's Progressive Alliance (PPA) in 2011 also declared that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot lose the presidency in 2015. "How can the PDP lose the seat of presidency when they have people like us?" he asked.

Kalu spoke yesterday at the national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja, after he visited the national chairman of the PDP, Dr Adamu Mu'azu.

2015: Presidency lobbies Fulani herdsmen over security

The Presidency yesterday urged Fulani herdsmen across the country to co-habit peacefully with host communities, underscoring the importance of avoiding violent outbursts that could affect the 2015 general elections negatively.

Political adviser to President Jonathan Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali made the plea when national executives and elders of the Myetti Allah Socio-cultural Organisation of Nigeria made a solidarity visit to his office. They expressed their support for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of 2015.

Emir of Bama visits displaced subjects in Maiduguri camps

The Emir of Bama, Alhaji Kyari Ibrahim Ibn Umar Elkanemi, yesterday visited the two camps where displaced residents of Bama are currently being camped by the government of Borno State.

The Emir, who was accompanied by the Waziri of Bama Alhaji Kyari Sandabe, alongside other traditional title holders of Bama extraction, expressed sadness while addressing over 5,000 internally displaced residents who were being camped at the NYSC Orientation Ground and at the premises of Government Girls' Secondary School, Yerwa.

Tension In CDS' Hometown Over Boko Haram Attack

Emir of Mubi smuggled out

Vimtim, the hometown of the incumbent chief of defence staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, is now under tension, following the alleged plans by Boko Haram to attack the town, a few hours after one of the sons of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who was leading a platoon was shot and severely wounded.

As the insurgents continue to advance to the commercial border town of Mubi, sources from the area said, the Emir of Mubi, Abubakar Isa Ahmadu, was sneaked out of the town on Monday night. The town was completely deserted.

Security sources said the wounded son of Obasanjo was first taken to 23rd Battalion, Yola, before he was transferred to the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, for treatment.

Residents of Vimtim said the town came under fierce gun attack but could not say whether the residence of the CDS was overrun by the insurgents or not as thousands fled the area.

Lately, Boko Haram insurgents have intensified attacks on the area, annexing many towns and villages including the hometown of the acting governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.

Many residents including the Emir of Mubi were forced to flee the town.

Other residents of Mubi say they could not sleep. "We couldn't sleep due to the heavy gunshots that pervaded the air in the night, and for now no one could say the exact situation.

A palace source had confided that the Emir initially resisted being taken out of Mubi, saying that he had rather die with his people, but security operatives insisted on moving him out.

A fleeing resident now taking refuge at the hilltop disclosed in a telephone interview that many residents are now trapped in Michika, Bazza and Shuwa, adding that only God can secure their lives.

"We are in trouble now; many are trapped. Some could not get out of their homes. These people are everywhere hoisting their flags on bikes, others brandishing their guns," said another fleeing resident.

Leadership


Meanwhile, the Nigeria Medical Association is opposed to the government's announcement that it will now reopen schools on 22 September, rather than 12 October. However the NMA believe that schools should stay shut until all those under surveillance for Ebola are certified Ebola-free. The association is suggesting that schools should not resume until December, or maybe even early next year because “…if Ebola should spread to any school, it will assume another dimension.”

[helipiloto]

Aahhh, come on! Don't worry!!! Tomorrow is R U OK day!!!! Yeah!
Just remember when (not if) something goes wrong just stop and ask someone R U OK?
Oh! And don't forget to wear your yellow TShirt.....and feel free to add any special, cool or fun gear to it like a yellow wig or some funky smell!

:yuk: :yuk: :yuk: :O

[rileyemi]

Once again AO has proven himself worthy of leadership as the threats of do this or go work somewhere else or do that or go find employment elsewhere. I thought Dictatorship was outlawed, oh ya I forgot where I was. His cost cutting measures are as always to little to late, what gets me is how long Houston will let this go on.

Weekend Travel only or find a new job, 4x4 going away if you don't like it find a new job, time to dust of the CV and update it

[Helinaut]

AO is living the dream!:eek: It is unfortunate that he can act and use language like that. An expat in his position would not make it to the end of the month behaving like that.

You are just now starting to update your CV? :E

[helipiloto]

Apparently (according to rumors) WASBU is over budget by some 7 millon USD. AO‘s plan?
Let‘s fire a few pilots, make'em pay for their own toilet paper at company provided accomodation, make pilots travel to and from home on weekends (but wait! training usually happens on weekends!! AO: who needs trained pilots!? .... oh yes sah, you are right) and why are we spending so much money on damned coffee!?!?
We'll hire some more "strategic business development managers" (God I love the way that sounds) and some more HR people. They'll help us fire all those lazy pilots who are bitchin' all the time!! :D

[TIMTS]

It was my understanding that the "missing" $7Mill are due to some "strategic financial managers" deciding to leave the country, and company I presume, with said finances securely in their briefcase.

Of course this is then "downloaded" to the operational level, with less coffee etc.

Left the center of excellence 7 months ago. Now I work more, with less time off and less pay...and I have never been happier!!

[pohm1]

Now I work more, with less time off and less pay

Has anyone asked 'R U Ok?'

P1

[TIMTS]

Not since last year...

[Keke Napep]

RUOK day is the biggest con in Bristow to try and make you believe they care one iota about you. I have found it useful for one thing though - my wife says those garish yellow T-shirts make good dusters and I rip off the sleeves to use as shoe cleaning rags :}

[crotor]

Seems like they're 'rebristowlizing' PAAN before the end of the year in anticipation of the loss of the Chevron contract. Sources say they will lose the contract. We suspect the contract will actually be split. Whichever way,it's not looking good.

[Helinaut]

If AO is talking to our customers the way he talks to his employees, it is no surprise we are losing contracts :sad:

[ediks]

For those looking to jump ship, Atlantic Aviation is now looking for pilots and cadet trainees.
::: AAglobal ::: Jobopenings (http://www.aanationalrecruitment.com/pilot)

[inputshaft]

What's Atlantic Aviation's relationship to CHC ( same logo)

Is Atlantic, CHC's AOC in Nigeria?

[ediks]

From what I've heard, CHC seems to have used a local company which had an AOC to get back into Nigeria.
That may be why the helicopters are in CHC colours.
I'm sure someone who knows better will come along to explain their status with greater accuracy.

[xtremalsound]

Atlantic Aviation is a Nigerian company in partnership with CHC. If you want to start operating in nigerian, it must be in a joint venture with a local company.
They have some AW139 and S76C+ on site.

[unstable load]

And S92 + more 139 en route.....