Bristow Wrong Deck Landing

[industry insider]

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/195688/investigation-launched-after-helicopter-lands-on-wrong-north-sea-platform/

There is usually a systemic cause for this. 40s platforms look very alike (or did in the 80s)

Don’t scapegoat the crew, Bristow.

[malabo]

Why the AAIB, somebody die? Wrong deck landings are the fodder that has kept legions of SMS “experts” at both oil companies and operators gainfully employed. So far, all recommendations have either had a serious economic impact not supported by any less hazard, or introduced other more significant risks.

[Nigel Osborn]

In the 70s we lived on the Forties Field using a Bolkow for mainly inter platform changing. The rigs are similar & at night or in poor weather it was hard to see the platform. The Doppler often would drop off line on those short legs & so the procedure was to call on final & get a positive landing clearance. The system worked well as I must have done well over 10000 landings without a problem, sometimes 120 a day or night but I can see how easy it could be to land on the wrong platform. I feel sorry for that crew as I'm sure that dung will come their way!

[the coyote]

No one is immune from human error. Those that have, and those that will if they do it for long enough.

[John Eacott]

Quotes are from the Unions: does that tell you anything? :hmm: :rolleyes:

Jake Molloy, regional organiser of the RMT Union said: “This is astonishing.

“I was of the understanding that systems and procedures were put in place some time ago to ensure this kind of event couldn’t happen, again.

“It seems we introduce systems to address failures that have the potential for a major incident, then after a period of time those systems are forgotten.

“You have to question how learnings from previous events of this nature are lost.”John Boland, regional officer at the Unite union said: “It’s very concerning. These pilots are very experienced and you would expect that they are landing on the correct platform.

“The concern is if the platform wasn’t actually ready for the helicopter landing, and there were operations going on, that could have been a much more serious situation.”Could have, may have :ugh:

Nigel may remember that allied to the Decca dropouts many NS facilities had the same NDB frequency back in the 70s; that was fun ;)



But I feel for the crew on this occasion, they are could well become scapegoats for something deeper than a misident. Dusseldorf/Aberdeen anyone?

[Fareastdriver]

Maybe they fed the platforms in to the FMS in the wrong order.

'That must be the right platform, the autopilot has lined us up on it'.

On my very first line training trip way back in 1978 on the Ekofisk my highly experienced training captain demonstrated how to land on the wrong deck.

[76fan]

Ah those were the days ...... my first Bristow sortie as a three ring (i.e. not IFR rated) PiC in a S61N early February 1977 ..... early first Aberdeen-Forties flight of the day, dark, weather marginal and still probably shirtsleeve pre-goonsuit era. Completed the multi-platform shuttle using a print out of the four Forties platforms which thankfully had the bearing and distance of each from the other(s). 200ft transit back and crept back visually via the Don and Aberdeen flats nearly three hours later. Second Forties shuttle flight in the afternoon in better weather lasting nearly three and a half hours. One of those days that sticks in the memory.

Looking at Flight Tracker it appears to be a Monday to Friday job now, with wonderful anti-icing and great pay ..... how things have changed!

[dustycraphopper]

Hit the nail on the head Malabo

These things happen , nobody got hurt did they , learn from it - review the procedures ( but only if need be ) and move on .

You can bet some will make a meal out of it and go the full 5 courses and not just a quick snack

[tu154]

Wrong deck landings still happen at a decent rate, I’d guess at least one per year. Some make the headlines, many don’t. The AAIB get involved as it’s normally classed as a serious incident in their terms, at least initially until investigated.

Normally a good test of an operator’s just culture. Many reasons for it to happen, many human factors related, but often organisational too. Some days it all lines up and nothing in the world can break in to convince you that it’s not the right deck. Feel for the crew. An unhappy place to be.

[SASless]

Even a Monkey falls out of a tree every now and then!

If the Decks are well marked with the name of the rig/platform.....I can see an approach to the wrong landing spot....but not a landing.

Does the Company SOP require a positive acknowledgement between the Crew confirming the name of the intended landing spot.....by name before touchdown?

One thing for sure.....without a single word being said to the crew by anyone.....these two Pilots shall never land at the wrong Platform again....ever!

The real question is.....which one of their detractors will be the next one to get their names in the newspapers for doing the exact same thing?

[Prawn2king4]

I've landed on the wrong deck during a local shuttle in bad weather. Embarrassing - and it cost me a few beers in the pub that evening. I've also landed at Edinburgh a few times, but I think that was the correct airport.

[PANews]

Something in the water that day..... it was apparently the same day as BA flew an airliner full of people heading for Germany to Edinburgh.....

[DOUBLE BOGEY]

I nearly did it. In my case a change of sequence in planning stage and a failure for my brain to comply. Programmed the NAV. Flew to what in my mind was the correct deck. Made a call for deck landing and the "correct" deck answered. Frantic check of paperwork and OOOPS nearly did it.
We should read the label on the deck but sometimes something takes our concentration away form that requirement onto something more pressing and if all the stars have aligned, it happens.
For many years the most pragmatic solution has been the RED Lights ON indicating deck unavailable and GREEN Lights ON for available. That may solve the problem.....but who's going to pay for it???

Hope the crew are OK and yes, if they don't suffer "Sharia" Law, the Commander wont make that mistake again.

[212man]

I understand how easy it is for this to happen and make no comments about the crew. However, the idea that landing on a platform that may have active crane operations underway, may be in radio silence, may have lose objects on or close to the deck (and down wash) and has no fire or rescue cover, to be a perfectly ok non-event that ‘just happens and what’s the problem?’ is concerning. Particularly as many who espouse this sentiment appear to be current offshore pilots!

[SASless]

20 SEP 2014.....212Man posted here in Rotorheads in a thread about two pilots being suspended for landing on the wrong deck.....saying: "I can also recall, as I suspect FED can, a tall ex RMP senior line training captain, on hearing of a wrong deck landing, saying loudly in the flight planning room that he would resign if he ever he did the same. Cue a few weekends later and a management trip to play golf. Wrong golf course -
does that count?".


"FED" was referring to FarEastDriver as I recall.


We have had this conversation before here at Rotorheads.....as this is not the only time or only Crew that has fetched up on the wrong landing site.

The good news for them is it shall happen again by other experienced and trained crews.

The key is to figure out what happened and see if there is a way to fill in that particular cheese hole.

[Nescafe]

There’s those that have, and there’s those that will.

[Apate]

There’s those that have, and there’s those that will.

And there's those that have retired, but still produce more responses on PPRuNe than those still flying :}

[SASless]

That is very true.....but from all the experience gained over a long career flying helicopters.....there is an information base that allows for a reasoned response.

We all learn from others....even the most junior bird man (or bird person) can offer up some wisdom now and then....even if it is in the form of generating a thought in others along the lines of..... "I darn sure do not care to add that to my bag of tricks!".

[XA290]

I'm not sure about the wrong golf course story but I recall in the early 90s, there had been a spate of wrong deck landings. The very senior (probably the same one as the golf course story) actually put a memo on the ops room notice board stating that the next person to land on the wrong rig would seriously have their career prospects interfered with.

The following week, he landed on the wrong rig. However, to his credit, he did replace the original memo with a somewhat contrite version and acknowledged that it could happen to anyone.

I seem to recall he was a keen golfer so there may be some truth in the story above.

[Saint Jack]

Yup, it does happen. I remember back in the mid/late 1970's in the Persian Gulf when a helicopter almost landed on the wrong platform, the pilot realised it was the wrong platform when he came very close to landing on top of a 212, piloted by the late John Harrison, who was already sitting there turning and burning.

[Fareastdriver]

Annual British Petroleum/Bristow Helicopters Golf Outing.

Perth Golf Club is going to be the venue so a Bristow Tiger is loaded and off they go. A courtesy call to Perth airfield before landing at the course.
"I hope you can find it; we're socked in with fog."

Having failed to check the weather at their destination they were forced to turn back to Aberdeen. There they bundled the BP boys into the passenger lounge and searched for another gold course. Nairn was prepared to accept them so passengers rebriefed and off they went.

Arrive at Nairn, espy the course and there is a big crowd awaiting them so they land on a clear stretch of grass by the clubhouse. No 2 goes out to check that it is OK to shut down there to be met by irate club secretary: They had arrived in the middle of their monthly medals tournament.

Wrong golf course.

The second time was lucky and the day progressed but a little bit more rushed than planned.

When they arrived back at Aberdeen the rumour goes that BP were highly unimpressed. Next time the Forties contract renewal came up Bristow lost it.

[industry insider]

Next time the Forties contract renewal came up Bristow lost it.

If this happened in the 70s, it must have been a long contract, we were still flying to the 40s in 1984 before I left Aberdeen.

[S92PAX]

The Hutton and North West Hutton were often mixed up. I landed on the wrong one a couple of times in the late eighties and we received a few errent landings too in that period. Most of the time there is little consequence but it is important that we guard against those occasions where the loss of life is possible and not dismiss it as one of thise things

[212man]

The golf course incident I was referring to was a Tiger, as that was what BB was flying at that time (around 1992). I don’t recall the details of which courses were involved.

[Fareastdriver]

It probably was a Tiger. The one I went on was in a S61 which was a bit before then.

[EESDL]

Worrying to read of a certain attitude towards wrong landings.
Make no mistake, landing on the wrong deck is a major incident and exposes various failings.

[SASless]

Care to tell us why you think these things happen to well trained and experienced crews?

What JuJu works to line up all those holes in the Cheese that lets landing on the wrong deck happen?

[OvertHawk]

Care to tell us why you think these things happen to well trained and experienced crews?

What JuJu works to line up all those holes in the Cheese that lets landing on the wrong deck happen?

Because human beings are fallible and when you build platforms that look very similar close together, give them similar sounding names and then ask pilots to fly multiple sectors to them (more often than not under circumstances that are likely to induce fatigue and often worrying about the latest round of redundancies too) you are creating a situation where mistakes can occur.

It's been happening for as long a pilots have been landing on oil rigs.

It has serious potential dangers as listed by others.

Technological mitigations exist, such as red wave off lights / green deck clear lights but oil companies will not pay for these (Although safety is their number one priority) and operators won't insist because they are in a perpetual contract negotiation merry-go-round.

OH

[helonorth]

Worrying to read of a certain attitude towards wrong landings.
Make no mistake, landing on the wrong deck is a major incident and exposes various failings.

Various failings? Maybe. Major incident? Hardly.

[JerryG]

Grand Prix, Brands Hatch, mid 80's.
Happy to have got Nelson Piquet safely home after his win, but beginning to get tired after several hours of shuttling the great unwashed out of the circuit.
Another take off, including the multiple near-misses that were so much a part of GP shuttles in those days.
Reached cruise height, breathed out for the first time in over two minutes, and realized I had absolutely no clue which of the three shuttle sites I was supposed to be going to on this rotation.
Turned to the cabin and nonchalantly asked "Ummm, just checking that you're all going to Biggin?"
Small fracas breaks out in the cabin.
Resolved by doing a round-robin to all three sites until the cabin was empty.
Problem solved!

[P2bleed]

Having been at the front end for more than a few years and like many nearly involved in the same drama I have suggested in the past that the HLO gets more involved and only clears the aircraft to land when he sees it on final.



In past investigations the HLO’s have stated that they have observed the helicopter landing on the wrong facility but did not make any comments!

[EESDL]

Of course you are correct - we are not talking 'Piper Alpha'-type major incident - but in an environment where everything is meant to be so closely monitored, controlled and carefully planned? For an aircraft to turn up on a rig uninvited is one thing, but to continue to land I would consider a 'major incident' in pilot CRM-aspect assessment of risk and breakdown of procedures.
My apologies, I did not want you to get too excited ;-)
I suspect that over-familiarity and slacking of procedures can be held responsible here - waiver following: This is merely a rumour forum and I have not the foggiest why it happened as I am fortunate to be many miles away from the scene and happy to take a calculated guess as no injuries, just pride :-)

[SASless]

For the cost of a Green Rotating Beacon on or adjacent to the Helideck....and the direct involvement of the HLO to turn it ON at the deck edge...signifying the Deck is ready to receive Aircraft......the problem could be solved.

The failure mode....no light ON....would signify a fouled deck and landing not allowed.....unless directely instructed to do so by the HLO of the Deck immediately prior to landing by the aircraft after visually sighting the aircraft.

That would allow for a failure or the rotating beacon for some reason but would require direct radio communication between the HLO and the aircraft and visual identification of the landing aircraft.

Or am I thinking all wrong here?

[Bravo73]

All good ideas, Mr S.

That system wouldn’t work for NUIs though.

[Fareastdriver]

For the cost of a Green Rotating Beacon on or adjacent to the Helideck

Not being any sort of expert of International Maritime Law but is it possible that a marine object can only display red/green lights for navigational purposes?

[PlasticCabDriver]

For the cost of a Green Rotating Beacon on or adjacent to the Helideck....and the direct involvement of the HLO to turn it ON at the deck edge...signifying the Deck is ready to receive Aircraft......the problem could be solved.

The failure mode....no light ON....would signify a fouled deck and landing not allowed.....unless directely instructed to do so by the HLO of the Deck immediately prior to landing by the aircraft after visually sighting the aircraft.

That would allow for a failure or the rotating beacon for some reason but would require direct radio communication between the HLO and the aircraft and visual identification of the landing aircraft.

Or am I thinking all wrong here?

Not all wrong at all. Or even dual mode deck lighting: red & green. Either the deck edge lights, the central H lighting, or both. Lights would sit routinely at red, when the HLO is happy to receive the aircraft, he switches them to green. "Deck available, lights are green". If the deck the crew is looking at still has red lights, something's gone wrong!

Once the aircraft has lifted and is away, back to red they go.

Can't be that difficult shurely?

[SASless]

FED, Steady Red , Green and White (or combinations of those colors) for nautical navigation lights....thus the rotating beacon.....or strobes.

No expert but Submarines use a flashing Amber Light when surfaced as I recall.

32 CFR § 707.7 - Submarine identification light.




§ 707.7 Submarine identification light.Submarines may display, as a distinctive means of identification, an intermittent flashing amber beacon with a sequence of operation of one flash per second for three (3) seconds followed by a three (3) second off-period. The light will be located where it can best be seen, as near as practicable, all around the horizon. It shall not be located less than two (2) feet above or below the masthead lights.

[NRDK]

My biggest bug bear is installations failing to have big bold names displayed at appropriate positions. Globally this is the case and the deck shouldn't get certified unless the operator does so. That would make the issue clear to all, including the muppets on short finals to land who can't follow the route plan or navigate for toffee.

[he1iaviator]

Why don't all offshore helicopters have AIS receivers (tx not needed) with the rig identification displayed alongside the radar or nav display target? Almost all offshore installations, ships and boats transmit their identification and position. Receiving and displaying this in a modern helicopter should not be beyond the wit of man!

[helicrazi]

Because we have a radar with waypoints transposed over the display showing which rig corresponds to each return. Assuming they are rigs. Returns we don't recognise are usually standby vessels, fishing boats etc.

I guess ais would show what the unknown returns are, but I don't personally see the benefit or have ever though 'if only we had an ais display right now'

[he1iaviator]

Nav databases are second hand information. They can be wrong or out-of-date. They don't work for vessels under way or newly repositioned. AIS is accurate information direct from the 'horse's mouth'. Just as good as reading the name from the side of the rig or helideck before you land, only visible from miles away.

[helicrazi]

I understand that, and yet I've still never needed it

before using any waypoint it's accuracy us checked against the latest position reported that day. Even fixed installations are routinely checked

[helonorth]

I worked offshore for quite a few years in the GOM. I did it once when I was new in a particular field. The platforms had a similar repeated pattern and I got confused as to where I was at. Was navigating by sight. The guy got out and started walking away when he realized he wasn't at the right place. I took him on the short flight where he needed to go. Red faced but no harm, no foul. I don't think anybody ever even knew but the workers at the platform were probably wondering what I was doing there but they never said anything. Another time I was told to go to XYZ platform in an area I have never worked before. Odd, XYZ not in the GPS? When I arrived at the coordinates there was nothing but open water. Turns out it was in a different lease block area but nobody bothered to tell me. This required a backtrack for fuel which resulted in some very pissed off workers as it was their flight in after 2 weeks offshore.

Not sure why all the hubbub about this as I don't ever recall anything more than embarrassment from this happening. The only real hazard I can think of would be an operating crane. The crane must be locked down and the operator must exit the cab for a helicopter landing and departing. Certainly could be a problem but the odds of them running a crane and the pilot not seeing it on the one day in your career you decide to land at the wrong platform, are pretty high.

[SASless]

helonorth,

You might explain to the audience just how many Rigs, Platforms, Well Heads, etc there are in the GOM and how the Fields are laid out for Navigation purposes so they can appreciate the sheer number of chances one has to get it wrong.

The North Sea Oil patch is quite small compared to the GOM in numbers of landing sites....with many of them quiet small in size and fit for only Jet Ranger sized aircraft.


Do some scrolling and watch the Dots multiply with each click!

https://www.drillingmaps.com/Gulf.html#.XKZy9i-ZNBw

[helonorth]

That's true. Much easier to screw up doing 40-50 landings a day with platforms in close proximity rather than just a few landings as the large aircraft out in the deep water do. Usually much more distance between them, but not always. I still don't really see the big safety issue, though. The flaring of gas was mentioned but I believe that is mostly spontaneous and can't really be planned for with any certainty. It can occur even if there is no production. At least according to the signs telling you so on the platforms.

[Ennio]

Possibly what might happen.
The oil company will be demanding a full investigation because their safety guy, the Unions and many pax will be jumping on the "wtf happened here?" bandwagon.
The helicopter company will be all over the crew like stink on poo telling them they have let everyone down. The crew will be told how this incident has caused a huge amount of embarrassment to the company and anger from the offshore workers particularly those who were on board the helicopter. The crew will be told how this incident has put the contract at risk and the possibility of damaging future contract prospects. The crew will be told just how much hard work and effort it has taken managers who have had to deal with the oil company in order to placate them.
The helicopter company will blame the crew entirely and if they are not demoted then written warnings will be the order of the day.
Telephone book down the back of the trousers will not be enough here.

Thats what a bloke down my local thinks may, possibly or likely happen.

[DOUBLE BOGEY]

I think the big issue here is the "Potential" for something to happen if all the wrong ducks line up. However, in all the wrong deck landings that have happened I am not aware of any "real" safety problem arising.
Pilots do not do this deliberately. There are always mitigating circumstances.
The "Potential" paranoia stems from the extensive investment in SMS, Risk awareness etc that can sometimes get in the way of reality.
The "Potential" for Bird Strike, Blade failure, bolt failure, engine failure.....etc...etc, we live with each and every day.
SMS and the subsequent investigation processes only add value when the objective is to determine why it happened and how to stop it happening again. None of that involves disciplining the crew.
In my experience., majority of these incidents stem from an initial "mindset" that has, for a number of reasons, detached from the plan.
However, over eager management with no operational experience will never really understand these circumstances. That's why in the old days we had a fat old CP, (see-it-done-it) sitting as judge and jury and not a panel of "Experts". Sometimes progress....just isn't"

[SASless]

More than likely that Old Bird had himself fetched up on the wrong landing site sometime in his past and understood how it can happen.

He might also bestow the "Royal Order of the Yo Yo" upon the Captain and allow him to wear it until the next guy did something to relieve the current holder of the less than prestigious honor!

[albatross]

In my time I got zapped for one " Wrong Deck Landing".
End of day round robin to 4 rigs.
Near departure time dispatch called and added a pick up of a crew at a "unmanned platform" and drop them off on the FPSO.
Standing in OPS with my Co-Capt at my side I repeated the new destination ID 3 times (Lets call it JB404) ...they comfirmed.
We modified our FP and called dispatch back and repeated our route. They confirmed.
We thrashed off to destination 1. Sitting on the deck I requested from the controlling FPSO landing clearance at JB404 which was 3 miles away. They cleared us to land. We departed, called final and landed on JB404.
Landed on JB404 .....nobody there. Called the FPSO and informed them ...after a very long pause they replied that the crew was actually on GB 604 20 miles away.
Fuel not being a problem we requested TO clearance and proceeded to 604 picked up the crew and dropped them on the FPSO.
When we got back I filed a report as an "incorrect deck landing" a problem with routing leading to landing on a platform to which you have been cleared to land VS a "wrong deck landing" on a platform to which you do not have a clearance.

Nope ....dispatch insisted that they had done nothing wrong, always told us the correct platform and that we had done a wrong deck landing.
So even though we had clearance to land ...we got zapped for a wrong deck landing.
After that I always insisted in a hard copy of the routing.
As I was the designated Capt. that day my good friend, and co-Capt that day...had many a good laugh over beers as he told the story of the "Lost Albatross."
212man may remember this little incident.

[albatross]

There is tha classic story of "our two heros" operating in the Persian Gulf who landed on a wrong rig.
Nobody on deck but no sweat ...ops normal PG.
OTH shut down and proceed to the dining room. Everyone is friendly. The lamb was great.
1/2 way through lunch the co-pilot says the the Capt. "Why is there a picture of Sean Connery in the great movie "The Wind and the Lion" on the wall?
Capt. looks and says, very quietly, "That is not Sean Connery and we are on an Iranian rig!"
Capt asks for a deck crew and they depart.
Stangely enough the rig they had been cleared to land on never reported the non-arrival of the helicopter.

Much laughter and a great story.

[212man]

212man may remember this little incident.

Well, I kind of did but the FPSO bit threw me! No FPSOs were in that area as I recall...........

[Fareastdriver]

On some fields I've been to the flying programme only gets done if people keep landing on the wrong platform.

[SASless]

If 212man spent any time at all in Eket, Nigeria......he has done the "Ubit Shuffle"....and probably hit one of the wrong Ubit's at least once!

[albatross]

Sorry 212man
Just trying to keep the location/nation anonymous...hence the fictionally named unmanned platforms.
Always enjoyed working with you and the great group.
Fun daze!
Cheers and all the best.

[Hilico]

AAIB report now out: Here (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ebbc21f86650c279020b2e2/Agusta_Westland_AW189_G-OENC_06-20.pdf)

[jimf671]

I have only been out to GOM once but I must say that the number of locations is mind-boggling by NS standards, so I can see where helonorth and SASless are coming from.

he1iaviator mentions AIS and I must say that I am somewhat surprised that this is not already the goto system for destination ID. Sure, there are problems with AIS data being corrupted or not updated occasionally but surely you just put in the contract that the rig should have up-to-date AIS.