Bristow Photos
Joined: Oct 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 7,373
Likes: 931
From: Den Haag
My guys called it the "Ju Ju Platform"
Probably focussed their attention to safety though 
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 308
Likes: 10
From: Cyprus
Treasure Finder
Treasure Finder
During the late seventies and early eighties the North Sea oil fields were probably at their most active and this led Shell to instigate a Bell 212 shuttle service to serve the Brent oil field installations and surrounding rigs.
The Treasure Finder was to be found in the East Shetland basin and consisted of a fairly large hangar built as part of an accommodation platform and attached to a production platform typically the "Brent B".
The hangar had an average compliment of five Bell 212's fitted with a vast array of avionics and safety equipment to enable such tasks as search and rescue.
The work rota was 2 weeks on / 2 weeks off.
There were two heli-decks, one either side of the hangar, and the photo was taken from one heli-deck looking through the hangar out to the other. The 212 on the left ( G-BGMI ) is fitted with a " Nightsun " high power searchlight as part of the S.A.R. commitment.
A good night shot showing the two heli-decks with a 212 stationed on the right hand one.
Note the tow cart still has the BEAS logo.
During the late seventies and early eighties the North Sea oil fields were probably at their most active and this led Shell to instigate a Bell 212 shuttle service to serve the Brent oil field installations and surrounding rigs.
The Treasure Finder was to be found in the East Shetland basin and consisted of a fairly large hangar built as part of an accommodation platform and attached to a production platform typically the "Brent B".
The hangar had an average compliment of five Bell 212's fitted with a vast array of avionics and safety equipment to enable such tasks as search and rescue.
The work rota was 2 weeks on / 2 weeks off.
There were two heli-decks, one either side of the hangar, and the photo was taken from one heli-deck looking through the hangar out to the other. The 212 on the left ( G-BGMI ) is fitted with a " Nightsun " high power searchlight as part of the S.A.R. commitment.
A good night shot showing the two heli-decks with a 212 stationed on the right hand one.
Note the tow cart still has the BEAS logo.
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 600
Likes: 0
From: In the Haven of Peace
Treasure Finder
I was one of the Chief Pilots on the Treasure Finder for a number of years. The sophisticated SAR equipment was developed after a fatal accident one night when all 6 crew members were killed when the aircraft was flown into the sea. Bristow and Louis Newmark, with funding from Shell developed a partly auto hover modification for the 212. It was the LN450, which was later fitted to the full auto hover S61s and went on to become the LN400. It was mostly the addition of a Doppler coupled to the flight director and Decca RNAV and enabled the pilot to hover at 40 feet radalt with his feet off the pedals, but controlling cyclic and collective manually, after being given FD directions from a target overhead position (usually derived from getting an overhead from the homer), to descend to 200 feet and run in to wind to the target until a visual was obtained. It required quite a lot of continuation training, which was paid for by Shell. We also got the FLIR fit in addition to the nite sun which we'd had for some years. We had also experimented with some early marks on the ANVIS night vision system, which was n ot particularly successful at the time.
The aircraft were already very nose heavy and C of G problems became worse with the Doppler fit, so Bristow also went ahead and fitted the Kevlar (helium filled) float bottles in the hell hole to help rectify this. For its day, I though the system was very successful and I felt a lot more confident on night SAR call outs in bad weather in the LN450 machines
The aircraft were already very nose heavy and C of G problems became worse with the Doppler fit, so Bristow also went ahead and fitted the Kevlar (helium filled) float bottles in the hell hole to help rectify this. For its day, I though the system was very successful and I felt a lot more confident on night SAR call outs in bad weather in the LN450 machines
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 112
Likes: 5
From: Salisbury, England
VR-BEI 30544
'Echo India is currently flying with Servicios Aereos De Los Andes in Peru as OB-1906-P. Hours unknown.
Early Abu Dhabi sister ship VR-BEJ is currently in Kenya with the British Army Air Corps as ZJ969. Last time I paid any attention to it, it had around 30K on the clock.
AB
Early Abu Dhabi sister ship VR-BEJ is currently in Kenya with the British Army Air Corps as ZJ969. Last time I paid any attention to it, it had around 30K on the clock.
AB
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 430
Likes: 0
From: South East Asia
Ref. Post #2369, the second photograph (PK-HBO during a refuelling stop) is rather faded, the helicopter is definitely in the red/white/blue Bristow colours, although at the time this scheme was still relatively new. Also, notice that the photograph is printed in reverse - look at the locations of the refuelling point and tail rotor.
The third photograph (PK-HBO again - details anyone?) shows the vessel 'Craestar', registered in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Formerly a Taiwanese trawler converted for seismic work, it was later transferred to the Indonesian register and renamed 'Ratna Sumatera' ('Pearl of Sumatra').
Both photographs are from the Rio Tinto Operation and show typical working environments, the Padang main base was only used for scheduled maintenance and crew-changes, they were probably taken circa 1973. The 'Craestar' was only used for a brief period which was just as well as only a few members of the heli crew could adapt to the onboard conditions - small and constantly moving. Chas Newport (ex RN) loved it while Mike McCormack (ex RAF) was permanently sea-sick!
The Rio Tinto Operation was a geological survey that entailed flying geologists into pre-determined points, usually small rivers or streams, to gather samples for analysis. The prime purpose was to identify commercially viable copper deposits. This analysis was done at Padang.
The full name of the client was Rio Tinto Bethlehem Indonesia (RBI) and this resulted is at least one bizarre event - one day a geologist received a letter from his sister addressed;
Mr. xxxx
Rio Tinto
Bethlehem
Indonesia
Everyone was amazed that it actually got to him!
The third photograph (PK-HBO again - details anyone?) shows the vessel 'Craestar', registered in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Formerly a Taiwanese trawler converted for seismic work, it was later transferred to the Indonesian register and renamed 'Ratna Sumatera' ('Pearl of Sumatra').
Both photographs are from the Rio Tinto Operation and show typical working environments, the Padang main base was only used for scheduled maintenance and crew-changes, they were probably taken circa 1973. The 'Craestar' was only used for a brief period which was just as well as only a few members of the heli crew could adapt to the onboard conditions - small and constantly moving. Chas Newport (ex RN) loved it while Mike McCormack (ex RAF) was permanently sea-sick!
The Rio Tinto Operation was a geological survey that entailed flying geologists into pre-determined points, usually small rivers or streams, to gather samples for analysis. The prime purpose was to identify commercially viable copper deposits. This analysis was done at Padang.
The full name of the client was Rio Tinto Bethlehem Indonesia (RBI) and this resulted is at least one bizarre event - one day a geologist received a letter from his sister addressed;
Mr. xxxx
Rio Tinto
Bethlehem
Indonesia
Everyone was amazed that it actually got to him!
Joined: Aug 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
Posts: 4,411
Likes: 83
From: Gold Coast, Australia
That was the Nordraug, and the infamous trolley with a hydraulically powered turntable so that it could be swiveled into wind for operations. Unfortunately the controls were above the level of the landing pad, so the Norwegians were asked to lower them to reduce the possibility of hitting them.
Instead, they put a guard over the levers. Needless to say one pilot drifted, hooked the heel of the skid under the guard and over she went. Trapped in the 212, the sliding door was too high for him to reach to open, and the front door was too heavy to push open. One of the other pilots jumped onto the (now smouldering) 212 and pulled the pilot out, and soon after the legs of the passenger seats were highlighted to be used as a ladder for emergency escape when a 212 rolls onto its side.
The Nordraug also had no adequate firefighting equipment for the deck, so shortly after the accident a firefighting monitor was installed.
Instead, they put a guard over the levers. Needless to say one pilot drifted, hooked the heel of the skid under the guard and over she went. Trapped in the 212, the sliding door was too high for him to reach to open, and the front door was too heavy to push open. One of the other pilots jumped onto the (now smouldering) 212 and pulled the pilot out, and soon after the legs of the passenger seats were highlighted to be used as a ladder for emergency escape when a 212 rolls onto its side.
The Nordraug also had no adequate firefighting equipment for the deck, so shortly after the accident a firefighting monitor was installed.
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 241
Likes: 0
From: mobile
I think your wrong there John. That's the Sedco704 doing the pipeline between the Claymore and the Piper Alpha. It was the accommodation barge and was putting concrete covers on the pipe at the same time. Was on it 1976 as back to back with Bob Cowan. The trolley was a nightmare!!
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 600
Likes: 0
From: In the Haven of Peace
Dave,
The 'seismic lance' on VR-BGB is actually a magnetic anomaly detector boom. The boom was hexagonal in cross section AFAIR and the box about one third back was the MAD box. There were 4 of the aircraft in Iran for IHAC on contract to Prakla Seismos doing a uranium for Uriran. They also had a groundwave detector in the tail boom which bulged out of the side of the baggage compartment and a skywave detector fitted behind the pilots' seats. Much of the forward part of the cabin was taken up by the electronic bays. There was also a camera pointing down from the port chin window taking a photo every 30 seconds to cross check navigation. The crew was 3: pilot, navigator and electronics operator. The aircraft were fitted with Doppler to accurately measure drift and with Decca TANS. There was no Decca in the mountains in Iran, but the TANS took in information from the Doppler and the navigator kept a constant update of it from his map reading so the pilot normally just had to fly the drift indicator and keep his needle in the middle to stay on tracks. Tracks were typically 150 km long, maintaining 60-80 knots groundspeed (I forget now whether the survey height was 200 or 400 feet agl). At the end of the track we moved 500 metres to one side and then flew the reverse until we had covered all of the boxes the geologists wanted surveyed. Fun and interesting work which came to an end during the revolution when Prakla Seismos were one of the first companies to pull out (which was how I ended up in Nigeria).
The 'seismic lance' on VR-BGB is actually a magnetic anomaly detector boom. The boom was hexagonal in cross section AFAIR and the box about one third back was the MAD box. There were 4 of the aircraft in Iran for IHAC on contract to Prakla Seismos doing a uranium for Uriran. They also had a groundwave detector in the tail boom which bulged out of the side of the baggage compartment and a skywave detector fitted behind the pilots' seats. Much of the forward part of the cabin was taken up by the electronic bays. There was also a camera pointing down from the port chin window taking a photo every 30 seconds to cross check navigation. The crew was 3: pilot, navigator and electronics operator. The aircraft were fitted with Doppler to accurately measure drift and with Decca TANS. There was no Decca in the mountains in Iran, but the TANS took in information from the Doppler and the navigator kept a constant update of it from his map reading so the pilot normally just had to fly the drift indicator and keep his needle in the middle to stay on tracks. Tracks were typically 150 km long, maintaining 60-80 knots groundspeed (I forget now whether the survey height was 200 or 400 feet agl). At the end of the track we moved 500 metres to one side and then flew the reverse until we had covered all of the boxes the geologists wanted surveyed. Fun and interesting work which came to an end during the revolution when Prakla Seismos were one of the first companies to pull out (which was how I ended up in Nigeria).
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 117
Likes: 2
From: U.K./nigeria
Indeed that picture was taken on the Sedco 704, over the Claymore/Piper tie in. I was involved in changing A BO105 m.g.b. in that very hangar. I seem to recollect a BEAS Bell 212 breaking a skid on the back edge of the trolley and having to land on sandbags and baulks of timber, I'm guessing that would be '76 or early 77.
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: England
I remember the Sedco 704 well. The corrugated iron hangar was pretty flimsy and when the CAA came out to inspect the operation (probably for the first time), the downwash from the S61 that was bringing them in to land blew one of the hangar doors off & over the side into the sea - not the best start!
We were a happy little bunch there as I remember, mostly BEAS with the odd person seconded from Bristow before the operation eventually became Bristow Offshore.
The trolley wasn't the easiest thing to land on initially because you couldn't see it from the cockpit - suitably placed broom handles visible through the pilot's door window & through the perpex panel in front of the pedals did the trick.
Also some riotous times ashore when we managed to escape for the odd night - but that's another story
We were a happy little bunch there as I remember, mostly BEAS with the odd person seconded from Bristow before the operation eventually became Bristow Offshore.
The trolley wasn't the easiest thing to land on initially because you couldn't see it from the cockpit - suitably placed broom handles visible through the pilot's door window & through the perpex panel in front of the pedals did the trick.
Also some riotous times ashore when we managed to escape for the odd night - but that's another story