What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)
What is the truth about this rumour? Has there been an influx of Bristow Mandarins into the Lagos Office lately? Applicants must now send their e-mails to Lagos directly? Was this a case of "if you cannot man the operations you will have to go yourself!"?
Haven't seen any posts about Mandarins lately. Is something afoot ? As Sherlock Holmes would say.........Join Date: Apr 2003
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Sons of Heaven, Unite!
If you look into it I believe you will find that Dr Fu Manchu was a mandarin. Well, I am sure he spoke Mandarin, anyway. Perhaps it is he who has been sent to run Lagos?
Or has SASless been out there on the lake without his hat on again?
I thought I saw a recent newspaper picture of a familiar-looking guy wrassling with an alligator that had a pair of jogging shoes in its mouth. Sure beats fishing for 'sunnies,' eh?
Never mind the rumours; reality or what passes for that in WAWA land will far outstrip them. That's to say, 'You just couldn't make this stuff up!'
I look forward to my return, trailing clouds of glory, soon-soon. Or not, as the case may be. Never mind the pay and conditions, it would be worth it just to check out how many rumours here are absolutely true.
Or has SASless been out there on the lake without his hat on again?
I thought I saw a recent newspaper picture of a familiar-looking guy wrassling with an alligator that had a pair of jogging shoes in its mouth. Sure beats fishing for 'sunnies,' eh?
Never mind the rumours; reality or what passes for that in WAWA land will far outstrip them. That's to say, 'You just couldn't make this stuff up!'
I look forward to my return, trailing clouds of glory, soon-soon. Or not, as the case may be. Never mind the pay and conditions, it would be worth it just to check out how many rumours here are absolutely true.
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chuks,
SASless may well have been indulging in a touch of pescatorial relaxation in the heat of the noonday sun, but he is possibly referring to the relocation of Pee Wee from the glass towers of sunny Redhill to the air-conditioned luxury of a Lagos office. If he squints his eyes when looking into the sun he possibly may appear to have a touch of Mandarin about him.
GMIA - are you NEO's son-in-law. Best you don't reply.
I hear that Bristow are having little luck in stemming the flow of pilots from Nigeria, despite theirugely generous increase in local allowance to N2,500 per day (gosh - nearly £10, when CHC are tedly paying pilots in Malabo US$35 per day in addition to an 'incentive allowance' of CAD 80 per day).
CHC pilots are also increasingly frustrated over the lack of any news of their supposed pay rise or improvements to their living conditions, now made worse by their enforced stay in their underequipped camp thanks to draconian restrictions on private movements in company transport. Many pilots are less than impressed with the new CHC management now in place, who think that new helicopters are an incentive to stay in Nigeria when conditions are much the same as the state of the tired, shabby outgoing hardware.
SASless may well have been indulging in a touch of pescatorial relaxation in the heat of the noonday sun, but he is possibly referring to the relocation of Pee Wee from the glass towers of sunny Redhill to the air-conditioned luxury of a Lagos office. If he squints his eyes when looking into the sun he possibly may appear to have a touch of Mandarin about him.
GMIA - are you NEO's son-in-law. Best you don't reply.
I hear that Bristow are having little luck in stemming the flow of pilots from Nigeria, despite theirugely generous increase in local allowance to N2,500 per day (gosh - nearly £10, when CHC are tedly paying pilots in Malabo US$35 per day in addition to an 'incentive allowance' of CAD 80 per day).
CHC pilots are also increasingly frustrated over the lack of any news of their supposed pay rise or improvements to their living conditions, now made worse by their enforced stay in their underequipped camp thanks to draconian restrictions on private movements in company transport. Many pilots are less than impressed with the new CHC management now in place, who think that new helicopters are an incentive to stay in Nigeria when conditions are much the same as the state of the tired, shabby outgoing hardware.
Bristow working full days at Eket now instead of half days? Pay doubled I suppose?
Two more CHC pilots leaving.....is the 29 short number accurate? Lots of new aircraft but fewer pilots to man them?
Two more CHC pilots leaving.....is the 29 short number accurate? Lots of new aircraft but fewer pilots to man them?
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1203,
CHC/Aero has the Petrobras contract.
If PeeWee is the Chinese-looking fellow, he's away in South Africa at present - maybe trying to find more crews on the cheap? He needs to as both Bristow and Aero now have increasingly tired pilots flying increasingly tired helicopters with insufficient spares (of either pilots or mechanical parts), living in mostly lousy conditions and with no real news of anything been done to either improve the situation or increase the pay to compensate for the lousy conditions
Interestingly I see on this forum that CHC is looking for pilots in Great Yarmouth and offering $800 per day. If that's what's on offer to make up for shortages in the southern North Sea presumably CHC will tempt some of the pilots who might be thinking of going to Nigeria with CHC Global Operations, to work instead for CHC Europe (they seem to operate as 2 entirely spearate entities anyway and give no help to each other).
With both Bristow and CHC yet to reveal even a hint of what they plan to do about tempting pilots and engineers to stay in Nigeria, or to go there for the first time they can't be surprised that they don't have enough. I can't believe they really imagine that they really think that if they stick their heads in the sand for long enough all their problems will magically go away
CHC/Aero has the Petrobras contract.
If PeeWee is the Chinese-looking fellow, he's away in South Africa at present - maybe trying to find more crews on the cheap? He needs to as both Bristow and Aero now have increasingly tired pilots flying increasingly tired helicopters with insufficient spares (of either pilots or mechanical parts), living in mostly lousy conditions and with no real news of anything been done to either improve the situation or increase the pay to compensate for the lousy conditions
Interestingly I see on this forum that CHC is looking for pilots in Great Yarmouth and offering $800 per day. If that's what's on offer to make up for shortages in the southern North Sea presumably CHC will tempt some of the pilots who might be thinking of going to Nigeria with CHC Global Operations, to work instead for CHC Europe (they seem to operate as 2 entirely spearate entities anyway and give no help to each other).
With both Bristow and CHC yet to reveal even a hint of what they plan to do about tempting pilots and engineers to stay in Nigeria, or to go there for the first time they can't be surprised that they don't have enough. I can't believe they really imagine that they really think that if they stick their heads in the sand for long enough all their problems will magically go away
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tokunbo
thanx for the info
is this problem perculiar to nigeria and why is Bristow and ACN so mean to pilots.
i think they need more competitions out there dont u think?
is this problem perculiar to nigeria and why is Bristow and ACN so mean to pilots.
i think they need more competitions out there dont u think?
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1203
Bristow and ACN are no worse in their treatment of pilots in Nigeria than they are in any of the other countries in which they operate where the pilots have no union representation. In terms of pay for days worked and job prospects both of them are considerably better than Caverton.
Both companies are now under new management in Nigeria and I think that the new managers have little idea as yet of how to get things done in Nigeria. Maybe we'll have more idea whether they are getting to grips with the problem of getting new pilots to go to Nigeria and existing ones to stay, after their new pay reviews, The problem is that they're taking so long with these and sticking to pre-set deadlines, rather than taking the necessary action (i.e. more pay) that with a wait similar in length to the gestation period of a Blue Whale, so many pilots may leave that it'll take years for them to recover in Nigeria.
Bristow and ACN are no worse in their treatment of pilots in Nigeria than they are in any of the other countries in which they operate where the pilots have no union representation. In terms of pay for days worked and job prospects both of them are considerably better than Caverton.
Both companies are now under new management in Nigeria and I think that the new managers have little idea as yet of how to get things done in Nigeria. Maybe we'll have more idea whether they are getting to grips with the problem of getting new pilots to go to Nigeria and existing ones to stay, after their new pay reviews, The problem is that they're taking so long with these and sticking to pre-set deadlines, rather than taking the necessary action (i.e. more pay) that with a wait similar in length to the gestation period of a Blue Whale, so many pilots may leave that it'll take years for them to recover in Nigeria.
Perhaps they should promote some local help to the top seat for a change...maybe a Nigerian management team could do a bettter job of managing in Nigeria. Bristow for sure has some very capable Nigerians that seem to be under utilized.
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SAS,
There is one local helicopter company, locally owned and with a local management team. I hear that, yet again, with the last pilot who departed their tender care, they kept up their 100% record of somehow forgetting to pay his final pay cheque. Hope Bristow don't have anybody like that
There is one local helicopter company, locally owned and with a local management team. I hear that, yet again, with the last pilot who departed their tender care, they kept up their 100% record of somehow forgetting to pay his final pay cheque. Hope Bristow don't have anybody like that
Tom,
I suppose we could plunk you down in, say, Burkina Faso and you would have an advantage over all the locals by rights of passport alone?
There was a time (not that long ago really) when Nigerians were not welcome in the Bristow Residential Compound (BRC)...unless they were drivers, bar tending, cooking, or cleaning up around the place. Seems a bit odd that, don't you agree?
I suppose we could plunk you down in, say, Burkina Faso and you would have an advantage over all the locals by rights of passport alone?
There was a time (not that long ago really) when Nigerians were not welcome in the Bristow Residential Compound (BRC)...unless they were drivers, bar tending, cooking, or cleaning up around the place. Seems a bit odd that, don't you agree?
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SASless,
Not sure what you're after? I've visited Burkina Faso on numerous occasions, but my European passport gave me no advantage, though the fact that I'm the same color (if that's what you're after) could have made them more sympathetic I guess. I have heard of the 'old colonial' attitude still being prevalent in Bristow, and I gues if their new senior management is from Houston, that won't make things any better.
As far as I know the Nigerian company to which I refer just has the same lousy management attitudes towards its staff as many Nigerian companies do - if you watch Nollywood dramas on TV (fat chance I guess, but they are very amusing), a lot of Nigerian managers really are like the people you see there. In fact the company I'm talking about could well be the basis of a Nollywood drama
Not sure what you're after? I've visited Burkina Faso on numerous occasions, but my European passport gave me no advantage, though the fact that I'm the same color (if that's what you're after) could have made them more sympathetic I guess. I have heard of the 'old colonial' attitude still being prevalent in Bristow, and I gues if their new senior management is from Houston, that won't make things any better.
As far as I know the Nigerian company to which I refer just has the same lousy management attitudes towards its staff as many Nigerian companies do - if you watch Nollywood dramas on TV (fat chance I guess, but they are very amusing), a lot of Nigerian managers really are like the people you see there. In fact the company I'm talking about could well be the basis of a Nollywood drama
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Nigerian In Cape Town
Well Guys CHC have a Nigerian heading up CHC Africa division down in Cape Town, evidently very qualified chap, might be a smart political move to help Nigerian operations.
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HJ
Jide was heading up the CHC/Scotia operations in UK, Norway and (I believe, Holland) before he was sent to SA. But actually, Nigeria is a separate operation, responsible direct to Vancouver. I don't know why - maybe because of its size or maybe because CHC is actually a minority shareholder in ACN, in common with nearly all foreign operators in Nigeria.
However, you're right about his qualifications and experience to do the job. I wish him every success
Jide was heading up the CHC/Scotia operations in UK, Norway and (I believe, Holland) before he was sent to SA. But actually, Nigeria is a separate operation, responsible direct to Vancouver. I don't know why - maybe because of its size or maybe because CHC is actually a minority shareholder in ACN, in common with nearly all foreign operators in Nigeria.
However, you're right about his qualifications and experience to do the job. I wish him every success
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8 Foreign Workers kidnapped from Bulford Dolphin
BBC News is reporting that 6 Britons, one Canadian and one American were kidnapped from tthe Bulford Dolphin rig by armed men at 0300 this morning. The Bulford Dolphin is currently drilling to the west of Escravos, not too far from the Okan field. Nobody has so far admitted responsibility. 
Now what was it said about "security" forces and procedures by the oil companies?
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Now what was it said about "security" forces and procedures by the oil companies?