Bristow S76 Ditched in Nigeria today Feb 3 2016
Do the Aviation Advisors for the client companies ever back seat during the simulator training for their contract crews? I've only seen it happen once, I think it should happen more often.
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Angry Nigeria posts or not, the guys that I know who are still in Nigeria after the purge had this to say: First thought was a fuel issue. Then they were told "autopilot deviation", then they were told what happened and not to spread it.
To me that doesn't sound like something airframe related, but more human factors. If they ran the thing out of fuel I'm not sure what the excuse would be. Piss poor planning, lack of situational awareness, no checklist use, no fuel planning on the Garmin...or maybe even the dreaded commercial pressure we hear so much about but that of course doesn't actually exist in a Target Zero environment.
If they had "autopilot deviation" and got un-commanded roll or pitch inputs one could be more understanding in light of the August accident. Maybe having this fresh in their minds clouded their judgement and pushed aircraft knowledge to a second rung below survival instinct.
I think what angers a lot of us expats who were there fairly recently, or are still there, is the feeling that this being a national crew it will be covered up, and the flight crew probably given some award and promoted to the 92. The fact that the media, of course hilariously unprofessional, has declared the female captain a hero, and alluding that had she been flying instead of Jay back in August the outcome would have been different is also pissing off quite a few.
But, this being Nigeria, these concerns can't be voiced without one being called racist, or being berated by the likes of Keke for being the evil backstabbing white guys. The fact that these concerns aren't born out of racism, but rather (in my case) almost a decade of working in Nigeria is obviously invalid.
And for the record, the most racist people I have ever met are the Nigerians themselves...(and no..not all of them)
To me that doesn't sound like something airframe related, but more human factors. If they ran the thing out of fuel I'm not sure what the excuse would be. Piss poor planning, lack of situational awareness, no checklist use, no fuel planning on the Garmin...or maybe even the dreaded commercial pressure we hear so much about but that of course doesn't actually exist in a Target Zero environment.
If they had "autopilot deviation" and got un-commanded roll or pitch inputs one could be more understanding in light of the August accident. Maybe having this fresh in their minds clouded their judgement and pushed aircraft knowledge to a second rung below survival instinct.
I think what angers a lot of us expats who were there fairly recently, or are still there, is the feeling that this being a national crew it will be covered up, and the flight crew probably given some award and promoted to the 92. The fact that the media, of course hilariously unprofessional, has declared the female captain a hero, and alluding that had she been flying instead of Jay back in August the outcome would have been different is also pissing off quite a few.
But, this being Nigeria, these concerns can't be voiced without one being called racist, or being berated by the likes of Keke for being the evil backstabbing white guys. The fact that these concerns aren't born out of racism, but rather (in my case) almost a decade of working in Nigeria is obviously invalid.
And for the record, the most racist people I have ever met are the Nigerians themselves...(and no..not all of them)
Gullibell
We all know the obvious way to isolate and diagnose an AP issue. But as Nescafe says (and obviously knows or has been briefed by BHNL) the issue appears the crew may not know the AP like you do and combined with the Harmattan causing poor visibility, it seems that they "talked" themselves into the need for a ditching.
We all know the obvious way to isolate and diagnose an AP issue. But as Nescafe says (and obviously knows or has been briefed by BHNL) the issue appears the crew may not know the AP like you do and combined with the Harmattan causing poor visibility, it seems that they "talked" themselves into the need for a ditching.
Do they have a C++ sim in Aberdeen?
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When I raised my concern about the level of competency of the remaining Bristow Nigeria flight crews in an earlier post, myself and others who voiced similar opinions were called racist, chauvinist and backstabbers.
Every expat currently (or until recently) working at BHN must have seen this coming. With government forcing nationals into every 5N registered cockpit coupled with the reduction of foreign workforce to save a penny has become a valid safety issue. A quick trip to the Sim will not fix this problem.
There have been several close calls in recent past but certain individuals were able to swipe it under the rug. This one will not go away but one thing is certain, the crew in question will soon be stumbling up the ladder and become BM, CP or better like all the other screw ups that came before them!
Every expat currently (or until recently) working at BHN must have seen this coming. With government forcing nationals into every 5N registered cockpit coupled with the reduction of foreign workforce to save a penny has become a valid safety issue. A quick trip to the Sim will not fix this problem.
There have been several close calls in recent past but certain individuals were able to swipe it under the rug. This one will not go away but one thing is certain, the crew in question will soon be stumbling up the ladder and become BM, CP or better like all the other screw ups that came before them!
I guess it's their train set and they can do with it what they want. Nigerian crews. Nigerian passengers. Nigerian clients. Nigerian registered aircraft. Nigerian regulator. Can't begrudge them wrecking a few carriages in the train set from time-to-time and reacting however they wish to react about it.
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I agree with TIMTS and imuney.
This will all be covered up and the female national crew of BQJ will come out on top. BHNL will take some BS meassures to please the NCAA. Nigerians will continue to take control of BHNL while getting rid of the expats remaining. However, with the price of oil now cheaper than a KFC family bucket and BRS stock price fast approaching single digits, their party, I'm afraid, won't last too much longer...
This will all be covered up and the female national crew of BQJ will come out on top. BHNL will take some BS meassures to please the NCAA. Nigerians will continue to take control of BHNL while getting rid of the expats remaining. However, with the price of oil now cheaper than a KFC family bucket and BRS stock price fast approaching single digits, their party, I'm afraid, won't last too much longer...
Without appearing to trade racism for sexism (jeez, these new protocols are more dangerous than combat), but didn't another Bristow crew ditch a perfectly good helicopter, at night, offshore, full of passengers and without liferafts, because the commander thought something didn't "feel" right. In the North Sea a few years ago, between the UK and Netherlands. I saw the pictures right here on PPRUNE.
Maybe the navel-gazing by Bristow should go deeper than just Nigeria. What did that incident have in common with this one?
Maybe the navel-gazing by Bristow should go deeper than just Nigeria. What did that incident have in common with this one?
Without appearing to trade racism for sexism (jeez, these new protocols are more dangerous than combat), but didn't another Bristow crew ditch a perfectly good helicopter, at night, offshore, full of passengers and without liferafts, because the commander thought something didn't "feel" right. In the North Sea a few years ago, between the UK and Netherlands. I saw the pictures right here on PPRUNE.
Hi GulliBell,
Trying to figure out what could make me decide to ditch in this particular situation. Peharps a DAFCS or flight control malfunction, like a damper jam on the collective control, requiring a force of around 60 lbs to break the weak link or else an abnormal friction (as I recently have experienced on the rotor mast spherical bearing) can cause a restriction in this control, and may be misinterpreted as a servo failure.
Normally such a servo failure must be indicated by a "servo light" but tragic past events ( i.e the "baltic sea" accident) have proved that it may not always be the case.
In this situation, don't you think the decision to perform a safe forced landing when still with a limited control, becomes an option ?
Trying to figure out what could make me decide to ditch in this particular situation. Peharps a DAFCS or flight control malfunction, like a damper jam on the collective control, requiring a force of around 60 lbs to break the weak link or else an abnormal friction (as I recently have experienced on the rotor mast spherical bearing) can cause a restriction in this control, and may be misinterpreted as a servo failure.
Normally such a servo failure must be indicated by a "servo light" but tragic past events ( i.e the "baltic sea" accident) have proved that it may not always be the case.
In this situation, don't you think the decision to perform a safe forced landing when still with a limited control, becomes an option ?
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Yur Fired!
Well it's not at all surprising they ran out of fuel . A very junior mistake! This is why under normal industry standards you need many years PIC single engine time! Perhaps BHNL needs to start treating Nigerian pilots the rest of the way the world functions ! Pay your dues then you get to fly the big stuff!!
Spoiled rich kids !!!
Spoiled rich kids !!!
What I find interesting is that these days on PPRuNe, threads aimed at accident prevention eg the recent one about automation issues, attract very sparse contributions from a very limited number of contributors. Whereas following an actual accident (or "landing on water", if you like) every man and his dog has an opinion they want to publish. Says it all really.
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HC,
Maybe it's because a number of the people who have posted on this thread just want to use it to bash their company and the people they smile at every day at work and backstab every evening on their computers, but they can't do that so easily on a thread about technical issues (possibly due to a lack of knowledge, who knows?).
Wouldn't it be funny if Keke were Eric in real life?
Maybe it's because a number of the people who have posted on this thread just want to use it to bash their company and the people they smile at every day at work and backstab every evening on their computers, but they can't do that so easily on a thread about technical issues (possibly due to a lack of knowledge, who knows?).
Wouldn't it be funny if Keke were Eric in real life?
I don't know..............
What ever happened, I was not there. No one would land in the open ocean lightly, there has to be a good reason. After 41 years of flying offshore for various companies, I can tell you that Bristow is as good as it gets. Let's find the reason and move on. We have all been in situations where we landed with a whole lot of less fuel then we intended. S**t happens.
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What I find interesting is that these days on PPRuNe, threads aimed at accident prevention eg the recent one about automation issues, attract very sparse contributions from a very limited number of contributors. Whereas following an actual accident (or "landing on water", if you like) every man and his dog has an opinion they want to publish. Says it all really.
Just sayin....
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Well that falls in line with getting rid of staff that have real commercial helicopter operations experience . Makes perfect sense. Really BNHL/BATS needs to speed up the process get rid of all expat engineering staff too. Break out the popcorn and watch the show !