Brent Spar

[Spunk]

In June 1995 two Greenpeace activists were dropped by a helicopter onto the "Brent Spar".

I've been searching the web now for quite a while but couldn't find any pics of the helicopter itself being in that situation.

Were there any other helicopters involved (e.g. newscopter covering that story)?

Any kind of help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.:D

[SASless]

From what height were they dropped....couple of thousand feet I hope!

[Plank Cap]

Spunk,

I did not drop the Greenpeace people, but did go up to the Brent Spar a short time after with a BBC film crew in the back of an S76. We spent about 30 minutes filming and I believe the footage was used on TV that evening. From memory the Spar was due to be scuttled at one stage, though don't recall the final outcome.

[arm the floats]

I remember the footage the Bo 105 being sprayed by some massive hi pressure hoses as it tried to drop the greenpeace guys on board.As far as I remember there was no tail number markings (or if there was they were smallprint size),haven't seen any photos tho.
I think the Brent Spar was eventually towed to Norway for decommission.Who owned it ? BP?

[rotorcraig]

Found these on the Greenpeace site:

Diary: http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/brent/diary.html

Photos: http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/brent/phopho.html

Diary date is 16th June (http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/brent/jun16d.html) (from diary page above you need to manually change jun16.html to jun16d.html as URL is wrong!)

Photos include this one (http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/brent/heli.jpg) of someone jumping from heli into the sea 2 days later on 18th June, but none from 16th.

RC

[Spunk]

Thanks for your replies so far.

The "Brent Spar" belonged to "Shell". They wanted to sink it in the North Sea. The "Greenys" protested against it and so it was finally towed to Norway where it was dismantled and recycled.

@SASless Well, it wasn't a couple of thousand feet but still high enough for one of the greenies to break his leg :\

@PlankCap I remember that footage. I think they even broadcast it on german TV.

@ armthefloats Yep, that's the situation I'm looking for.

@all Don't get me wrong. I'm definetly not a "pro-greeny". Just looking for some pics.

Well, I know what happened to the pilot when returning to the main land but was wondering what would have happened to those guys aiming the water guns at the helicopter if they had hit it? Or even better: what would have happened to the helicopter if it was hit by those water guns???

[Daysleeper]

Er just for the record.

The Spar was to be sunk in one of the deepest parts of the north atlantic, not the north sea.

I thought the helicopter WAS hit by one of the water cannon, I watched it on TV at the time, it was mighty close if not.

It turned out that the best way of disposing of Brent would have been to dump it at sea, on the basis that there are now several thousand tons of contaminated steels in landfill just waiting to leach into the groundwater supply.
As for recyling. Not really a bit was used to build a pier somewhere but thats about it..

Lots of publicity for Gpeace, but the wrong outcome for everyone really.

[Camp Freddie]

Hey

what didnt really come on across on the TV well was the scale of the Brent Spar, it looked really big on the TV, but I am advised by North sea pilots who flew there in the past that it was similar in scale to the 2 SPM platforms next to the Beryl A Platform (175 miles north east of aberdeen) which I have flown too, and I was struck by how small they were.

so a tiddly little platform sunk in the atlantic sounded a much better plan too me.

[GJB]

The entire exercise demonstrated how a bullish bigwig like Shell could get it all so wrong and damage their business significantly with people boycotting their products.

Ultimately, dumping at sea would have been a safer and acceptable option.

Had their plans been effectively communicated then the fiasco would not have ensued. Greenpeace were actually proven wrong with what they claimed they toxins within B Spar actually were and what the resulting environmental impact would be, but I think they were right in their actions given the attitutde of Shell who simply dismissed the concerns of those around them.

Funny how that arrogant manner seems to live on and they've had a bit more egg on their faces of late. An endemic failure within company culture.

:uhoh:

[rotorcraig]

what didnt really come on across on the TV well was the scale of the Brent SparFound this...
http://www.uyseg.org/risked/images/risk_ed_titles/title_brent_spar.gif
http://www.uyseg.org/risked/images/brent_spar/spar_dimensions.jpg

Source (http://www.uyseg.org/risked/pages/spar/spar_facts.htm) is from the University of York's Science Education Group site (http://www.uyseg.org/)

RC