Finalschecks,

I have no recollection of drunken nights at the BRC, multiple No17's, bush hut, any house called 46 etc...

Chucks,

What! Just because I threw away some dusty files (pilots who had left or died many years before), took over the training room, dumped all the remaining raggedy OOD publications. I did deliver the remaining 'recent' items (eg John Flexman's paperwork) and sundry mouldy kneeboards, headsets into the then CP's shiny office!

I also thought of you when a subscriber made mention of Calverton helicopters - Possibly a Nigerian company formed by your old ruddily complexioned mate of a similar name?!

SAS

Did I ever ask you to replace the 4 iron from the second-hand set you sold me in 1992/3? It actually broke in 2002, didn't you offer me some kind of guarantee?

NEO

Glad to hear you're back on air - not that we missed you!

Musket

Delighted to hear you're still alive also - not dispatched by some gunslinger over those aces you palmed!

Westcoaster

Thank you - I (and about 200 others) haven't had the opportunity to belly laugh so heartily for quite some time - Sorry Oh!

Doc,

I never implied that you were involved in those drinking sessions at the different Bristow bars. You are after all a well known (G&) T-total chap who would not use his huge Upperclass baggage allowance to bring in his personal beer barrels & tap unlike someone else who will remain nameless.:ok:

Greetings,

Finalchecksplease

Ps Did you happen to break that 4 iron catching snakes in Warri?:D

Hi Doc
 

Glad you noticed my new handle, as we say out west. Not to worry I have a CCW permit to defend myself when need arises.

Don't forget to leave the desk and fly. Good for the soul!

Cheers,
Pokerpilot33

Story Of My Life..........
 

Doc,

Cheers mate, it seems nobody misses me whenever I leave, even marriages...........

The frustrating thing about your departure from this sunny Paradise is that I am probably the only one who never got to see the missive you sent to the powers that be (or were in some cases). I heard about it, but never actually got to read it like the Lagos RW guys. I also heard it was really relevant and touched all the right nerves.

Do me a favour and PM it to me ? I'd be interested to see if any of the points you raised have been addressed.................

Cheers,

NEO

Infamy, infamy,
 

They all have it infamy!

Never take the bullet for a personal screw-up if you can find someone else to blame. So my story is that it was all beer, bratwurst and listening to long, drawn-out tales of the quality of the brake discs on the Porsche 911 with me on track to get Captain Pants back on track, right up until a certain rotary-wing rival Training Captain arrived and first insisted on sharing the sacred Training Captains Office and then went through the place like the Wrath of God. Germans not being into sharing meant that he had to pack out of there and find some outlet for his wounded feelings and a new place to stick up his Nazi Moon Landing posters. There was no living with the c*nt after that.

All I can say is, "Thanks a lot, pal!" I don't care if it really wasn't your fault at all but just one of those things, I am blaming you for it anyway. What did you expect?

You guys just wait small! I will be back, back on top of the Centre of Excrement. Okay, maybe I have to settle for one of those three-wheeler Bajaj thingies for my personal transport but at least it shall be mine, all mine! Hands off that bar card!

Doc,

Tell me it ain't true!

I believed them when they said they wanted to know my thoughts on how to improve the place......from the warm reception my nine page missive received (probably up in flames over the rubbish bin...) I can just imagine the reaction when one of the Made Men broke ranks!

But to have seen the faces of the few as they made like Cats covering up cat droppings would have been good fun.

Sas,

It's all true mate. Apparently it wasn't one of those spitting the dummy out sort of messages, it actually told those who sit at the right hand of God what the real issues were (and probably still are).

I'd love to read it.

chuks,

Based on democratic tenets, the whole tawdry affair had to be your fault. The German is no more and the helicopters have taken over the asylum so you're outvoted. Sorry-oh !!

NEO

We play the niche markets!
 

That's the marketing man's way of saying "Bottom Feeder"!

Neo, you know as well as I do that no one could make up stuff stranger than Nigerian reality.

Coming to a go-slow near you any time from now: One Bajaj with a snazzy "Caverton Executive Shuttle" paint job and Guess Who sat there in the back staring at his pointy shoes hoping no one recognises him in his latest incarnation as Mr Twinned Ooter.

That or I just keep reading you and others posting here; it's a good as the bar minus the hangovers.

chuks,

No need to worry, the effects of the pointy shoes will be more than compensated when you glance down at the stylish long cuffs of your pastel-pink mock-cotton shirt with genuine Aba Gucci label and see the ultra-modern scarlet counterpoint stitching around the button holes and the bright silver chains attached to the cufflinks :}. Suddenly you're a style icon and the envy of all your bush friends in the Algerian deserts.

What happened to Wesboaster - has all that moisture from behind his ears shorted out the keyboard of his laptop :E

chuks,

I don't know about making things up, the rumour and speculation machines are pretty good at coming up with outlandish stuff, but I do think it's never boring !!

Tell me you won't wear pink, even Aba pink. PLEASE tell me........

NEO

NEO Leaving ??
 

NEO,

A liitle birdie (well, quite a big one actually) whispered to me that you may be leaving Paradise for greener pastures soon. Any truth in it ??

In light of Bristow Australia pilots achieving a 30% pay increase.....how many Aussies will jump ship and head home to Oz rather than continue in Nigeria?

GMIA,

Don't know where you got that from. Rumours of my demise are greatly exaggerated.............. Where would I go ? Who would have me ? No, don't answer that ;)

NEO

NEO,

There is always life after Nigeria....all one has to do is climb out of the familiar and comfy rut. The lads in Brunei seem to lodged like ticks there.

In extremis....you could always join Uncle Fred and Stacey in the Gulf. You would fit right in.

I second that!
 

It is a hellish jolt to the system but it turns out that yes, one can live without the high cement walls garnished with razor wire, the barflies and the night-fighters, the sound track of either "When I..." or "Ssst! Darling, I love you too much!" with a backbeat of rock 'n' roll from the Stone Age or else some British lunatic playing spoons, guitar, bagpipes or all three at once.

Fun in my part of the Sahara is pretty basic: just waiting for a camel spider to come racing past to see how often and how loud the lady F/O says, "Oooh-la-la!" Once every 28 days we get a really big, full moon. That's about it, unless Al Qu'aeda decide to come trick-or-treating.

Bristow Nigeria
 

Regulars,
Whats happening with whats new in Africa?Anyway would anyone know, what time of the year do Bristow Nigeria send trainees for Ab Initio training especially to Florida?:rolleyes:
How many times do they send trainees during the year?:D

Announced today:

Bristow Group Inc. a leading provider of helicopter services, said it has successfully negotiated a two-year contract extension with a major customer in Nigeria. The extension is effective April 1, 2008 and includes two large and one medium helicopter.

Total value of the new contract is estimated at $54 million, which reflects a rate increase in the first year, with an additional rate escalation in the second year.

SAS,

There are at least a couple I know who've resigned in the last couple of weeks, whether as a result of the better pay deal or just because they're fed up with the Bristow cr*p I haven't heard. Bristow Nigeria, still haven't announced who their new MD is to be, despite announcing over a month ago that the old one is off to the GOM and as for the S92 and whether it's coming most guys are still in the dark, despite the first engineers having gone to Norway for their courses already. It's surprising more S76 pilots haven't gone as many of them have no idea which base they're going to be based at for more than a few days at a time. At least 2 412 pilots are headed back to ADA. Even with their big pay rise they still lag behind Bristow, but the new camp really is under construction, there's no need to travel to work in an armed convoy and no cover-ups about Legionnaire's disease.

The shambles that CHC presides over in Nigeria is still little different, but at least they seem to have learned a bit about training and guys are no longer released to the line after a few minutes training :yuk:. The new GM rotary appears to have a positive approach and unlike any other CHC manager he seems to listen to people. I wonder if the new American owners will make any changes, like introducing some form of cost control? CHC is still a better bet for a bit of stability as they just have the one main base with occasional detachments to Lagos, though there will be a few more there when the EC225s arrive soon - I wonder if they'll be painted in CHC colors with the 'flying chicken' or in the traditional white/orange of Aero with the triple SSS logo? :ok:

zalt,

Must be Shell then as they present have 2 Bristow AS332L in Nigeria and 76C+ (actually I think SNEPCO).

MP,

As long as some clowns will stay in Port Harcourt, the CHC rundown of a good company continues. It goes to proof that spending a deal of money does not mean that things will improve, only that your car will have been exchange for a newer one and the garage enlarged. CHC will never understand Nigeria.

mayotte;

I worked in Nigeria in the latter half of the '70s with Schreiner and quite frankly, I know of no one who can understand Nigeria.

carholme