The Bush Telegraph...
 

It is a funny thing, but sometimes you get very authoritative inside information hot from the bush telegraph right after a crash that turns out just not to be so. I think that people just like to make themselves important by being listened to, whether they really know what happened or not.

How often do you read about some eye-witness in the US or the UK finally being charged with wasting the time of the police after sending them off on a wild goose chase? To fill my shell-like ear with nonsense in a bar after hours is much less risky than that, and I always try to bear that in mind.

I was flying a Twotter at the time of the ADC crash, when I was even slightly involved in looking for floating wreckage on the lagoons before the crash site was finally established.

In a bar (where else) I heard precise and detailed stories about one ADC captain refusing to fly that 727 after an engineer had poured lots of hydraulic fluid into a leaking system at Port Harcourt, so that another captain took over the aircraft for the fatal flight. Then they lost the hydraulics and went into lawn-dart mode.

Then there was another story about how the elevator or the horizontal stabiliser came off.

And the one that turned out to be true seemed to be the most far-fetched, that the crew got a TCAS alert, when the F/O, Pilot-Flying, made a turn to avoid but kept banking and rolled the A/C over on its back, so that it went in vertically from 15 thousand + feet at close to Mach 1.

The strangest thing was the reaction of the search teams, when they abandoned the search just when they had supposedly got the equipment finally in place for recovery. That was very weird, and the local papers didn't let out a peep.

I fully agree that we need to know what went on so that we can avoid making the same mistakes twice. But in Nigeria there are so many loose ends. You just cannot, try as you might, divorce the way we fly from the way we live. Cars without lights, cars without seatbelts, roads without markings, airports without full lighting or signage. (How often have I had a quiet laugh when a night-time Lagos transient is told to 'Report at Link 4,' when I think to myself, 'Good luck finding it, new boy!') It's all one big mess.

Jerry Agbey-Egbe was about the only guy on the local scene willing to go public over a lot of aviation safety issues. There is still a lot of disquiet over the manner of his death; was he really shot by robbers at random? I guess we shall never get an answer to that.

I think there is simply too much pressure to continue doing things in the old, established way. Rarely, people come into the system who really do try to make positive changes. But that goes against the accepted, age-old ways of getting along. And Nigeria is not alone in this; think about how often we see discussions about the Asian fear of 'loss of face' and the role of that in accidents.

It shiouldn't be the way it is, but this isn't a perfect world. It comes down to accepting the environment for what it is and then trying to make the best of it. I try to keep a positive attitude and encourage a pro-safety way of operating without ending up tilting at windmills.

How often one sees someone come out for one or two tours in Nigeria before they flounce off to denounce the whole aviation scene as unsafe, insane, unfair or whatever. (Mr Ebullient comes to mind, somehow.) Well, aviation is inherently unsafe! Every time you get in and set things to turning and burning you are taking a risk. It's just a matter of not trying to juggle too many balls at once, I guess.

If it is any consolation, I had a job in Miami, Florida for an outfit run by a bottom feeder's bottom feeder. I was lower than a snake in a wagon rut. You know how we cheer ourselves up by saying, 'Well, there is always someone worse off than me.' That was me! I used to come in at midnight with the A/C needing a 100-hour inspection and come back out at 0700 to find a sticker on the instrument panel stating that had been done. What, by the shoe-maker's elves? Where was the FAA in this? And if I had complained, who do you think would be in trouble? Doh! I did my hours, got my ATPL and made tracks out of there!

Terms and conditions in Nigeria were found to be ten times better than back there in the good old USA. Otherwise, why would I still be here? I am with you in trying to make some constructive complaints but Nigeria's not the only place with problems. The trick is finding the balance, yes?

Mama Mangrove, I am interested in anything you or any other Ppruner might know about 5N-BBS which crashed with Mike and Eugene sadly killed just over 2 years ago at the Brass Terminal.

You mentioned the final report, which is something I have been trying to get hold of. I was told that the Final report still has not been published. If you know otherwise I would much appreciate any info you have on how I could get hold of a copy.

I was very close to Mike but sadly due to the fact that I don't operate in West Africa the only information I am able to get hold of with regards to the accident are from friends that worked with Mike at Aero.

My current understanding is that the cause of the accident published in a draft of the final report is Tail rotor failiure on short finals to the Helipad at Brass.

The report apparently also states that the initial emergency which resulted in the turnback to Brass and a Mayday call from Eugene is unknown. (although they speculate that this was likely due to inadvertant selection of the floats in the cruise). For any AS365N2 operators reading this post- how likey could this be?

Apparently the report contains no reference to any of the eye witness/pax accounts or statements. Isn't this highly unusual considering that 8 out of the 12 occupants survived with minor injuries and were able to evacuate and swim away from the submerged helicopter?

Mike was a close friend and experienced Captain of the Dauphin helicopter at Aero in the region. Any rumours/news speculation that ppruners in Nigeria may have heard with regard to the accident/investigation would be much appreciated. Also please feel free to IM me if there is anything you do not wish to publish on the open forum.

Savings ?
 

SASless,

The dust sticks up there, that's why we all pick our noses !! Not only are the 212 Check 2's now carried out at 3,000 hours, they are done without any spares as people aren't allowed to request any until the powers that be see physical proof that something is unserviceable. So a Check 2 that used to take around 2 weeks (with a work party), can now take up to 4 months !!

Penny wise, pounds foolish............:rolleyes:

NEO.

Ah yes...but NEO...do recall...import duties must be paid on any spares brought into country....and that would require some money to be tied up while the spare sits on the shelf. Do you remember when LT cracked its tail boom and it took eleven weeks for the "spare" to be reworked and shipped to Warri? All that could have been prevented if there had been more than one Chadwick in country and LT could have been tracked...to eliminate the slight 1-1 vertical it had.....the one that physically separated your butt from the seat each time the blade came by. I won't mention the Training Captain's name that said it was okay to fly that way....he is still there I hear.....face sags a bit with age....but then what did a mere redneck know?

Sounds pessimistic maybe, but it seems to all be part of a wider plan to strip the companies down to the bare minimum, get as much short term profit out of them as possible then walk away. This has been done to Bristow many times in the past 20 years, which is why they don't actually own anything anymore, except the antique 212's in Eket. No buildings, no spares, no nothing. They have become an employment agency with a lot of rich ex CEOs.

Now OLOG are in on the act, they want their pound of flesh. Pan African will probably get stuffed in time too. The recent pay rise they got looks good at face value, but all it has done is to bring them up to what everyone else has been getting.

Then ACN are waiting to see what CHC are going to do (or not). Nigeria isn't a great place to work at the moment if you're after any semblance of security.

I hear there's a lot of political infighting going on at the moment between OLOG, Pan African and Brsitow Redhill as to who gets to control Nigeria. With the way things are going with OLOG in the GOM doesn't look as if aqny good will come of it for either Bristow Nigeria or Pan African.

The guys at Aero are still waiting to hear how much they're going to get stuffed by CHC on their new pay deal when they change from Euros to Dollars. They're being told that they may be pleasantly surprised, but that could just be to reduce the haemorrhaging of pilots and engineers they're suffering at the moment. All the staff are being sent new contracts to sign. At least they're presently being employed by a Cypriot-based company where their contracts may have some chance of a semblance of legal backing. What's the betting the new ones will be governed by the obscure, unenforceable laws of some unheard-of tax haven?

As for Caverton - who wants a contract with a Nigerian company governed by Nigeria law? That's just sure to be easily enforceable internationally :}

Has not Freddie moved from the double wide trailer in New Iberia to scrumptous digs back in Lagos? Last I heard he is both an OLOG VP for African Ops, MD of Bristow Nigeria, and on the Board of Directors of Bristow Nigeria. If that is true...then it would seem OLOG/New Iberia will run Bristow Nigeria.

SAS,

I heard that too. Apparently he's living in style in Victoria Island somewhere. Shame they couldn't find the money to renovate the not so sumptious quarters at Esa Akpan................. But I suppose he's forgotten what it was like when he was there ?

NEO,

One should be careful what one says about senior management....mere staff cannot understand the importance of maintaining a lifestyle only to impress the customers and to have suitable digs to entertain them. The nuturing of customers certainly takes precedence over trivial matters like staff housing. Why, sir.....you do have most of a roof over your head do you not....and the gaping holes in the walls allow for ventilation.....adopting slick tailed rats for pets has always been a welcome diversion to the company bar.

Did the swimming pool...(promised long ago to replace the staff funded one at the airport) ever get built?

The real reason Fred has to live so far away....is if he is inside the BRC he has to live in seclusion....too many complaints delivered personally to him outside the chain of command....thus interfering with the evening cocktail hour.

If the Caverton shuttle gets up and running...reckon ol' Freddie will be a customer for the run to Ikeja from VI? Or...will there be a Bristow VIP shuttle in the works to compete with Caverton. They could dust off the Jet Ranger....throw some pledge on the fabric....and in the VIP business. Never mind the gouges in the interior from all the sand sample bags from Iran.

SAS,

The only swimming pool is the one created during the rainy season by the inadequate drainage or the leaks from the appalling plumbing !! Another empty promise. They are always being told that profits are so slim they can't afford it. Wonder what the rent is on an apartment in VI these days ?

Only problem with the Bristow VIP shuttle would be the couple of years to get hold of a site and build a heliport - though with the OLOG connection maybe he could persuade Chevron to let him use their pad at Lekki :ok:

From the latest Quarterly Report on the web....


I understand now why they cannot afford to fix a leaky toilet!

In Nigeria, flight activity and operating revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 increased 14.8% and 31.3%, respectively, over the quarter ended September 30, 2003. The increase is primarily due to the addition of two medium aircraft in November 2003 and two large and one medium aircraft in April 2004. These additional aircraft accounted for 882 flight hours and $5.2 million in operating revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2004.



Operating expenses for our International Operations increased in the quarter ended September 30, 2004 to $45.3 million, or 23.9%, from $36.5 million in the quarter ended September 30, 2003. The increase was primarily due to higher salary costs, maintenance costs and lease fees due to increased operations in our international areas. The operating margin in our International Operations increased to 15.1% in the current quarter from 12.8% in the prior year quarter.

With hardly any investment in Nigeria (except more managers in Lagos to do what two used to get done).

No on site spares or new engineers to fit them, a trickle increasing to a torrent of imminent pilot resignations, unhappy clients, unhappy workforce (although that isn't important these days), and a pretty gloomy outlook. How the mighty have fallen:sad:

Please don't tell me everyone is content with this ?!! No F/W licence, so where are my razor blades................................??

NEO....what you need a razor blade for...not comtemplating putting an end to this are you? You need a reason to hang on? Look at the bright side....when all the other guys start bailing out....your position on the seniority list will improve greatly. That way the crewbus will pick you up last and drop you off first. Now there's a deal to live for!

While reading some financial reports filed by OLOG to the SEC....there was a paragraph that noted two accidents were under investigation. One in Alaska and the Bell 412 crash in Nigeria that killed Dave Ellis, the Captain, his co-pilot, and two passengers. There has been some discussion of this before.

I could not find any record of the NTSB having an open investigation on this....nor does it make sense for them to do so...foreign registered aircraft....foreign location....foreign operator....and all.

Anyone have any official information about the crash and its causes beyond second/third hand...someone told me that...kind of report?

SAS,

True about the seniority, but with an American board of directors pulling the strings (control and purse), that would make my salary a glitch on their otherwise flat financial reward graph, leading to an excuse to make me disposable !!:ok:

Ah I forgot....the OLOG Seniority and AGE reduction program....as practiced in the UK and Eket.....reckon they do senior management that way as well?

Stamp all personnel folders with a "Must fire by date"....based upon a floating combination of age and years with the company modified by number of increments being paid.

The Little One being still on base pay with no increments due to run-ins with the Ethics and Standards Board....escaped the Eket thing....too few increments to qualify for the cut-off.

By the way...how is Hypen Smyth?

Correct. All the really senior pilots bar one have retired and gone back as contractors leaving cheapies, just the way they want it.

Here's a little quiz to see if you can spot aqny of the companies you know (or knew) in a certain African country.

Well established overseas company with other contracts makes a partnership with Nigerian company who leave the overseas company to operate and manage everything. Company gets offshore contracts with major oil companies. Small operating bases established after contracts awarded. Everyone makes money.

Local company decides to get into aviation, looks for overseas partner. Maybe gets small contracts with local oil companies. Spends a small amount of money on support infrastructure, has a few problems with the NCAA. Makes small amount of money for a while and then gives up.

Local company decides to get into helicopter operations, has no offshore experience, contracts or contacts, brings in Polish or Russian helicopters which nobody wants, with non English speaking crews, and bases them where there is no work. Company goes down the potty.

Local company decides to get into helicopter operations, has no offshore experience or contracts, spends huge amount of money on superb facilities, hires very expensive foreign consultants who know nothing about helicopters, fire consultants, buy very expensive helicopter only suitable for European operations, hire a few expats to make it look as if they're very serious, start talking about bases everywhere, worry about money so cut back on spending but hire lots of low paid local staff to make things look busy. Company goes down potty.

Know any of these? :E :E :E

3. Okada :ok:

You could have added:

Company goes down the potty, you'd never know the boss or his family lost any money as they still have all their toy train sets, big mansions overseas and Mercedes. It's just the poor suckers who worked for them or invested money who lose the lot :}