North Sea News

[Savoia]

OSB: Who do you think is sponsoring these studies?

The following should support (at least in a small way) mid-term stability for the industry:

Platts Details Changes to North Sea Price Assessments

Pricing company Platts said Friday that it will change the way it assesses the key North Sea oil market in an attempt to preserve the market's status as the venue for pricing the majority of the world's oil.

McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP)-owned Platts said it will introduce quality premiums for Oseberg and Ekofisk crude oil from June. The two grades feed into the Brent-Forties-Oseberg-Ekofisk, or BFOE, forward contracts that help set the price of Dated Brent.

Dated Brent in turn underpins ICE Brent, a futures contract regarded as the global oil price.

Platts Details Changes to North Sea Oil Price Assessment | Fox Business

[Fareastdriver]

Headline news - 'Fat, overpaid oil workers overstressing helicopter gearboxes'

There you go - it's all the bears in the back's fault, job done

Could well be correct. In China the pax weigh an average of 150lbs with lifejacket. Not room for a lot af freight so it is topped up with fuel. On a single out and back over 160 n.m. it does not need refuelling so on the way back it only has 3200 odd lbs in the back and 2,000 lbs in the tanks so it is just coasting as far as stresses are concerned.

[SASless]

What was the average Crew Weight?

[cyclic]

I did say a while back on 225 ditching thread that the NS fleet is operated at MAUW more than anywhere else so it could be true

[Grey Area]

Seat Certification

Just for interest, passenger seats are certified using a 77 Kg pax weight.
(CS29.562)
Makes you think about what protection afforded to a larger passenger?

GA

[Offshorebear]

How did we get away with using standard weights for all those years, was it not something like 89kg
when the bulk were at least 10kg over that for starters ?

[jimf671]

... passenger seats are certified using a 77 Kg pax weight

Phew! Just made it then!

In a former existence in vehicle design we had to comply with international standards based on 95% of the world population. This made some aspects of the vehicles valueless or even dangerous to the customer and his staff because the size of the world population was a lot smaller than the size of the people who could actually afford the vehicles.

[HeliComparator]

I suppose you could argue that an arbitrary value is chosen for the g forces encountered in a "standard crash" so the process is inexact on that basis, and so some variation in pax weight doesn't create a step change in the validity of the certification.

[mtoroshanga]

Have you read the accident report for the British International S61 accident that took place in the '80s?
All the survivors were in single seats,no one on a double seat survived!!

[Fareastdriver]

What was the average Crew Weight?

Western captain, approx 190lbs.
Chinese captain, approx 170lbs.
All co-pilots, 140lbs

[SASless]

Seems it just isn't the Bears that increase in bulk over time!

[ericferret]

and tales of starving co-pilots unable to afford food are probably true.

[Sevarg]

Pilot weight?

Is that with or with out wallet???

[Savoia]

Helicopter expert Helen Krasner has been drafted in to explain the North Sea 'weight' issue: Helicopters and overweight oil workers explained

[Wizzard]

I see that Ms Krasner has a degree in "stating the bleeding obvious" as Basil Fawlty might say!

[terminus mos]

Don't they use actual weights on the North Sea just like they do in other places? If so then this is a totally facile argument.

[Offshorebear]

Don't they use actual weights on the North Sea just like they do in other places? If so then this is a totally facile argument.

They do now but that was not always the case, IIRC it only changed about 2005 or so ............

[Savoia]

Fatal accident inquiry to be held into North Sea helicopter crash that left 16 people dead after prosecutors ruled out criminal proceedings

A Super Puma plunged into the sea off the Aberdeenshire coast while returning from the BP Miller platform on April 1 2009.

The Crown Office announced that an inquiry into the circumstances of the crash will take place in Aberdeen in October.

"Having carefully considered all the circumstances of this incident, Crown Counsel have decided that there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution and as a result, no criminal proceedings are instructed," a statement said.

FAI into North Sea helicopter crash to be held - Scotland / News / The Courier

[HeliComparator]

That's probably for the best, I can't really see what prosecution would achieve for the "public good". Those involved will be carrying enough guilt anyway.

[SASless]

If the AAIB investigated the Crash, the Crown Office conducted an inquiry and determined no criminal prosecutions were possible.....what will the proposed Inquiry accomplish that the other two Investigations did not?

I would assume the Next of Kin have the ability to seek compensation by means of a Civil Proceeding that would incorporate the findings, evidence, and testimony of the AAIB and Crown Office Investigations along with any other sources.