What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)

[stacey_s]

Originally Posted by Droopy

Murdock, if you ever get to Eket it's quite possible that a parrot called Bertie may still be alive, they do after all live a long time. Don't take personally the fact that he was trained to say "Murdock's a w@nker".....

Bertie flew the coop many years ago, when he was seen sitting on the top of his cage by the pool by a 'resting' pilot, when aformentioned pilot was asked as to why he did'nt put him back in the cage the reply was "he looked like he was enjoying himself"!! he was that was why he flew off!!!

[Tokunbo]

I Dey New Second Hand

ruma,

I dey sabi my name well well - new second hand sums me up perfectly . I wasn't aware you had insulted my person . Any more news on which helicopter was rumoured to be involved in the unfortunate death in Abuja with the tail rotor incident? Have you heard if Caverton's new Ecureil has arrived yet? I hear that it has already left Tires, but all the Harmattan may have slowed it down.

[Perro Rojo]

Be very careful about counting that one month bonus until you find out EXACTLY what it is. YVR are past masters at insinuating one thing and actually meaning something else entirely. Get it in writing!

Is the bonus, "Salary" plus "Away from Base" pay? Or is it Salary only? If it is Salary only (the most likely case) it would only amount to approx $3600 CDN after two years in Nigeria. That's right up there with the $55/month long term service award that one gets after ten years service.

And a reminder for all the Canuk people working in Nigeria right now, your OETC tax break is only on the first $80,000 income, anything over and above that is fully taxed at the highest rate, so essentially you will only receive about 55% of it depending on which province you live in. That $150 per day all of a sudden becomes $80/day. Ooops!

[MamaPut]

Red Dog,

That's another point missed by many. At least you Canuks have a tax break. Brits have to either spend more than 270 days a year out of country or pay full tax on eveything, so the companies arguments about a tax-free salary mean nothing. I hear that Bristow hoped that the chance to work 8/4 may have attracted quite a few people because of the tax problem, but as they didn't offer proportionately more salary for 8/4 (as NEO says, only 20% extra for 30% more work) they have had only a few volunteers.

[Outwest]

Be very careful about counting that one month bonus until you find out EXACTLY what it is. YVR are past masters at insinuating one thing and actually meaning something else entirely. Get it in writing!

It is in writing. If you are a CHC employee you will find the memo on the Intranet site.

The bonus is based on your total salary, including Daily, IP and LTS.

[ruma]

Toks,
The Aba and not Abuja incident is now a forgotten case! The case file against 'Caverton' on the issue is missing! Do not ask me why. During the cause of investigating the owner of the yellow Ecuriel, it was understood that the pilot in question on that flight has long resigned from their employment! .It was rumoured too that the chief executive of Afrijet is also a childhood friend of Remmy! Their offices side by side at the airport.
It was also rumoured that the 'Let 410' has gone back since it can not serve LNG for her Bonny- Lagos shuttle. The right of landing in Bonny was denied by Mobil and the crew too were not co-operating on the available payload out of Naf Base.
The crew that went for the ferry of the Ecuriel are yet to arrive. Initially it was a technical hitch in Europe and lack of fund was another problem for the crew. The AW 139 is coming as the last option for LNG before the end of the first quarter of this year. Sunny can only run but not hide from flying the 139 when she come to the shore of Nigeria. The two Dauphins are on their way back to Portugal since they fall short of the legislation of Nigeria. A 'Dash' product from Canada is also on their list of aeroplanes for the year. Wonder if the 'bridge' between their apron and the western taxi way will be ready before the arrival of the aeroplane. Otherwise 'millions' of cowries will be required to pay Concord Airlines for a space like it was with the 'Let410'

[SASless]

That two years in country....is that two calendar years counting leave time or two years "on duty in country" as the old Bristow contracts defined Two Years.

[cavertonmanagement]

Is a lie! In the centre of excellence nothing will go missing unless daddy wants it/him to go missing. Is true our first DO went missing because daddy wanted it - he was a rude man and didn't say nice things to daddy.
We let the Let go because of not suiting our purpose well well. The crew were like the first DO and daddy did not like them. Is true we could not land at Bonny, and we looked for alternative work for the Let. Being the fine, forward-looking, modern aggressive, centre of excellence we are, we lloked at extending the VI helipad for the Let (just like the modern city airport in that fine, modern city that daddy and I like - London). Sadly, daddy's friends were not good friends and did not take a proper business view of our excellent business proposal (they have not been to modern, overseas university and done top-class degree like daddy and me), so use of the helipad will have to attend arrival of our top-class, VIP S92. We have now decided the S92 and Dash 8 are just interim measure now and we will be first customers in Nigeria for for BA609 tiltrotor and Airbus 380. The residents of Lagos will so love the quiet tiltrotor as it cruise past their house in whatever livery we can find sponsor for. The 380 will be used for a new internal shuttle service (carrying on from our fantastic, innovative, modern helicopter shuttle), where we shall start in Lagos with full passenegrs and then carry on flying on circular route to Ibadan, Sokoto, Kano, Zaria, Kaduna, Abuja, Benin, Warri, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Enugu, Makurdi, Jos, Bauchi, Maduguri, Yola, Calabar, Lagos. Everyone will be so happy and we shall have demonstrate to everybody again how clever and forward-looking this company truely is.
Sunny does not need to run anywhere - it is not dignified for senior staff to run and is difficult if wearing pointy shoe, which we encourage all senior staffs to do so they can be looking as snappy dressers as myself.
Is a lie! - there is no shortage of money for the Jumbolino, just those INAC peoples who do not understand brown envelope concept and are so unhelpful, not like our own CAA at all, at all. Is taking time because Uncle terry is old man now and need to have proper paid rest with small party everywhere in Africa. Also for Steve is difficult because there is plenty bad weather with dust and every meteorological hazard which is ruining his fine suit, so he need to make long stops just for the dry cleaning.
So, pay no attention, everything is going too well with our modern innovative company. daddy says Happy New Year in arrear to everyone (except those people he doesn't like and will soon make to disappear). As you see, is plenty happening and we are now taking application from suitably qualified pilots with experience on S92, AW139, Jumbolino, BA609, Airbus 380 and every thing.

[Mama Mangrove]

SAS,
I hear that the modern Bristow management concept is to keep everybody hanging on by rumours of promises. Promise everything - deliver nothing . There seems to be very little in the company that's propagated by anything but rumour, except among the few top managers. I also hear that Oni's going, so the brightest guy in the company is about to be lost to them. It doesn't seem to be putting off a number of people who are poised to leave CHC for them - maybe that's because of the marshmallow management style of CHC (soft and spongy, sweet with no real substance).

Cavert....... etc,
With all this expansion going on, any chance of getting NCAA to let an older person, such as myself in to help you expand? Don't somehow think pointy shoes would suit me, but I'd be prepared to have a haircut and dress really snappily. I don't have the 380 on my licence at the moment (in fact I don't have a licence any more), but with all my experience in Africa I'm just the guy you're looking for. Will I be doing my 380 course in Toulouse. Just PM me if you'd like a copy of my CV

[SASless]

So I suspect you are saying Bristow is in the promised promises of promises promised mode of management then? Perhaps even that promise will remain unfulfilled?

If Bristow lets Oni leave.....they again make a very bad decision. I certainly wish him well and will look forward to hearing of his prospering wherever he finds himself. Perhaps his new employers will realize his real potential and make use of his talent and ability unlike Bristow.

[Tokunbo]

SAS,
I think you read too much into what MM was saying - I hear it's just Nigeria he's leaving, and going on to better things within the Bristow group, the better to develop and make use of his potential

[Tokunbo]

I think the Aba 'incident' was actually down to an aircraft other than the yellow Squirrell - maybe one of the reasons for another change of pilot on a privately operated 407?
Still no news of Uncle Terry and Strange Steve - any sightings in Lagos yet?

[SASless]

It is long overdue for him (and some others as well)!

[noooby]

Outwest,

Where exactly on the intranet?? I've been looking high and low and can't find it.

[Outwest]

noooby,
Global Operations>Flight Ops &Resources>Admin Memos......memo 6th from the bottom.
Also, the ET pay for Nigeria has been temporarily increased to $450/day.
Cheers

[Phone Wind]

Hm, ET pay very temporarily increased - wonder if it's due to be dropped to coincide with the elections in Nigeria being finished then (or will they; there are some stories now about the possibility of the elections being postponed to August)

The new 350 (or Jumbolino, if you will ), appears to be having some trouble getting to Nigeria. I hear it's stuck and unlikely to be here for quite some days as yet. That'll make 2 helicopters Caverton will be operating then. Wonder where all the finance for the new hangar in Port Harcourt is coming from then as I hear the Dauphins either are, or shortly will be, on their way back to Portugal (wonder if Caverton or Heliportugal are paying for that?).

I think the yellow peril was not the one involved in the problem in Aba and a pilot who was flying the other helicopter seems to have suddenly left the country - wonder if the problem and his departure are linked?

[noooby]

Thanks Outwest, managed to find it with your instructions

[dynamicd]

Originally Posted by ruma

It is no news that the Federal Government of Nigeria airwing now have their own helicopter-AB139 in its fleet . Needless to say that the two helicopters in her fleet from NNPC being flown and maintained by Paan/Aero will be withdrawn to patrol the pipelines all over the country. The 139 is for the airforce and flown by them too . I saw the white coloured AB139 at the presidential wing during the holiday and what came to my mind was the 'Osubi' incident with the Mill-35 on her ferry flight en-route Port Harcourt from Lagos. On another occassion a crew was swopping seat in a Super Puma with rotors running! The rest is history and i hope it will not repeat itself-this time with 001 on board! Looking at the background and flying experience of the crew. We have many of them-airforce- in the general aviation and their capabillities when it comes to instrument environment! I hope the aviation adviser to Mr. President is reading this forum too.Now after two sorties with the President, the AB139 is grounded! Is it 'Tokunbo'? before my next coment. Who knows the outcome of these crews training in Italy? I heard them flying in and out of 'Aso-Rock' on night training the last time.

Heard their performance was dismal and the navy might be called to operate the AB139.

[TomBola]

Nigerian Violence Continues

Last night a boat carrying Hyundai Heavy Industries personnel from Port Harcourt to Bonny Island was attacked by a number of other speedboats carrying armed men. During the attack one Dutch civilian and one Nigerian Navy man were killed. The Captain of the boat died today. 6 others were injured. Helicopters are needed even more out here now, because more expats, and many Nigerians, are refusing to be transported by boat. Unfortunately, it's getting more difficult to find enough people to come and work here and as more newcomers do come, the overall experience level decreases. If not for the harmattan causing many helicopters to have been grounded for much of the last 3 weeks, I'm sure there would have been red faces as the companies tried to find new excuses for them being grounded because of lack of crews . This is not surprising when only token measures are taken to improve security of staffs . Aero takes security so seriously that their security officer kindly posted a nice list with the names of all staff, their house numbers and a request for telephone numbers, on a noticeboard accessible by anybody. Bristow as usual, just talks about what it might do. Caverton does nothing. With all the unrest in the area I wonder if the people back in YVR are wondering if their investment of several million dollars in Port harcourt is safe? If I were an investor in the company I would be asking about it.

Looking at the Caverton website, I see that it's really up to date. The major focus is still on the A109E - which left the country last year after it was sold. There's a nice photograph of their grounded Dauphin, the departed 109 and the yellow AS350 (the only helicopter still flying - unless the one 'on its way coming' is flying somewhere today ). With no more income from NPA, a large, unused hangar, offices, luxury passenger lounge and waterside heliport in Lagos, all built at enormous expense, plus the passenger facility which they refurbished at NAF Base Port Harcourt and a new hangar being built there - where's all the money coming from ? I'm sure that one leased AS350 doesn't generate the income to fund it all. They must been down millions of dollars over the few years they've been around. There was also the recent fiasco with the Let410 they brought in, without even having secured permission to use Mobil's airstrip on Bonny Island. They must have at least 5 or 6 pilots just to man one helicopter which operates single crew. Still, it's good to see that 'cavertonmanagement' is still optimistic about the future . Presumably it's just a rich man's hobby rather than a serious money-making enterprise.

[soggyboxers]

Tom,
I take it you're not going shopping for a pair of pointy shoes and polishing up your Jumbolino licence then