Recognition of problems on the North Sea?
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Recognition of problems on the North Sea?
The Scotsman.
Cost-cutting squeezing oilfield safety, says report
Jeremy Cresswell Northern Business Editor
([email protected])
OIL companies have slashed contract rates to the point that North Sea helicopter companies can no longer recruit and retain the pilots they need to sustain effective, safe services, the British Airline Pilots Association warned yesterday.
In a stinging attack on UK offshore operators, BALPA claimed the main firms, Bristow and CHC Scotia in Aberdeen, now lacked the resources to pay salaries that competed with fixed wing airlines, or to invest in new aircraft.
The union alleged oil companies were damaging their own businesses because of their contracting policies where rates are sliced to the bone, while oil prices soar.
BALPA’s is the second attack on oil company practices this week. On Tuesday, the Royal Bank of Scotland warned that a growing lack of key hardware coupled with a chronic skills shortage and short-termism, was damaging the North Sea’s long-term future.
The pilot’s body wants the government to intervene and make oil companies switch to "sustainable" contracting to prevent irreparable damage being inflicted.
The Scotsman can disclose exclusively that, according to a new report by BALPA, the salary gap for senior pilots flying helicopters versus fixed wing aircraft has soared from 10-15 per cent traditionally to 53 per cent today (£36,856 versus £56,507). For junior grades, the difference is typically 30 per cent.
The report says the UK airline industry will require another 1,600-2,000 pilots by 2007 and that this sector traditionally takes a large number of helicopter pilots from the armed forces and North Sea.
But there are only 450 offshore pilots and about 40 per cent will retire within six years.
"As the pilot shortage bites, one scenario is a worsening lifestyle for the remaining pilots and crew, as they take up the slack .
"Another is widespread cancellation and disruption to the [oil and gas] exploration and production process as it becomes physically impossible to find enough pilots.
"One operator has taken the unprecedented step of transferring pilots from its English bases to Aberdeen to cover vacancies."
BALPA warns that helicopters are critical on safety grounds alone, let alone for commercial reasons, to the current drive to open up a host of mini-fields.
Dave Hogg, chairman of BALPA’s helicopter committee, told The Scotsman yesterday that if BP ever implemented proposals to switch mostly to helicopters instead of ships for offshore safety cover around its platforms, this alone would require at least 120 highly-trained pilots and aircrew.
Hogg, a pilot with CHC Scotia and a North Sea veteran added: "The purpose of this report is to give our employers something which they can lay in front of the oil companies to convince them of the seriousness of the problem."
Cost-cutting squeezing oilfield safety, says report
Jeremy Cresswell Northern Business Editor
([email protected])
OIL companies have slashed contract rates to the point that North Sea helicopter companies can no longer recruit and retain the pilots they need to sustain effective, safe services, the British Airline Pilots Association warned yesterday.
In a stinging attack on UK offshore operators, BALPA claimed the main firms, Bristow and CHC Scotia in Aberdeen, now lacked the resources to pay salaries that competed with fixed wing airlines, or to invest in new aircraft.
The union alleged oil companies were damaging their own businesses because of their contracting policies where rates are sliced to the bone, while oil prices soar.
BALPA’s is the second attack on oil company practices this week. On Tuesday, the Royal Bank of Scotland warned that a growing lack of key hardware coupled with a chronic skills shortage and short-termism, was damaging the North Sea’s long-term future.
The pilot’s body wants the government to intervene and make oil companies switch to "sustainable" contracting to prevent irreparable damage being inflicted.
The Scotsman can disclose exclusively that, according to a new report by BALPA, the salary gap for senior pilots flying helicopters versus fixed wing aircraft has soared from 10-15 per cent traditionally to 53 per cent today (£36,856 versus £56,507). For junior grades, the difference is typically 30 per cent.
The report says the UK airline industry will require another 1,600-2,000 pilots by 2007 and that this sector traditionally takes a large number of helicopter pilots from the armed forces and North Sea.
But there are only 450 offshore pilots and about 40 per cent will retire within six years.
"As the pilot shortage bites, one scenario is a worsening lifestyle for the remaining pilots and crew, as they take up the slack .
"Another is widespread cancellation and disruption to the [oil and gas] exploration and production process as it becomes physically impossible to find enough pilots.
"One operator has taken the unprecedented step of transferring pilots from its English bases to Aberdeen to cover vacancies."
BALPA warns that helicopters are critical on safety grounds alone, let alone for commercial reasons, to the current drive to open up a host of mini-fields.
Dave Hogg, chairman of BALPA’s helicopter committee, told The Scotsman yesterday that if BP ever implemented proposals to switch mostly to helicopters instead of ships for offshore safety cover around its platforms, this alone would require at least 120 highly-trained pilots and aircrew.
Hogg, a pilot with CHC Scotia and a North Sea veteran added: "The purpose of this report is to give our employers something which they can lay in front of the oil companies to convince them of the seriousness of the problem."
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Well MR. Cyclic it looks like your on to something. Im really glad that next year after highschool Im going into the rotor-avaition feild. It looks that I should get into transportataion in the oil rig industry. Do you have any other advice for a soon-to-be helo pilot
My Regards
Cody
My Regards
Cody
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My Advice Cody Copter is before you apply to become a helicopter pilot learn some grammar and spelling. A carelessly spelt job application sent to me would go straight into the bin. If one cannot spell properly or at least use a spell checker one is not going to become a safe pilot where accuracy and forethought are essential. eg your should be you're; Im is I'm; feild is field; avaition is aviation; transportataion is transportation. Otherwise good luck in the US of A
Ally
Ally
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Why is it that when someone starts a sensible, interesting thread that others can build on, people like AllyPally and HeliEng completely miss the point?
Instead of banging on about poor spelling and letting us all know how clever you are, why not read the topic, understand it and then make some contribution.
If you did that then this forum might keep some credibility!
Instead of banging on about poor spelling and letting us all know how clever you are, why not read the topic, understand it and then make some contribution.
If you did that then this forum might keep some credibility!
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
AllyPally: I should be wary of lobbing bricks in case you find yourself in a greenhouse...
The second word of your first sentence is unnecessarily capitalized, you have missed a full stop at the end of the last, and 'eg' should be 'e.g.'.
The second word of your first sentence is unnecessarily capitalized, you have missed a full stop at the end of the last, and 'eg' should be 'e.g.'.
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 45
Likes: 0
From: Hibernia
Why would I be a librarian Problemchild? You obviously have little experience in the training and testing of fellow aircrew. While a bad speller may have good hand/eye co-ordination and be able to pole well his lack of pride in his written work is an indication that he may not cope when the chips are down. My old RAF instructor said he could teach anybody to fly but not everybody to operate. My course started with 16 (all with previous Chipmunk flying at UAS) but 8 were chopped for not having that extra capacity required to operate the a/c. In 30yrs of flying both fixed wing and rotary I have witnessed pilots who could fly the a/c perfectly well when things were going well but whose standard of accuracy fell sharply when faced with out of the ordinary conditions, because they became overloaded . So while there may not be a direct link between bad spelling and lack of capacity I would be reluctant to invest in an applicant who sent a badly spelled CV as it shows a lack of pride and also laziness in not using spell checker.
Ally (the pilot!!!!)
Ally (the pilot!!!!)
