NLTTGITWOAGS,

I agree, and they should also read the citation for the Bristow/MCA crew who won the Bill Deacon Award the year before for a difficult rescue in foul conditions at maximum range.

ri

And many other citations/awards gained by civvie SAR crews through the years. True professionals.

....and very nearly ran out of fuel.....

Ahh , you misunderstand SAR, the skill comes in not running out of fuel, and getting an award. Run out of fuel and you in the S...!!!!

Considering a job move, I have heard about this offshore mallarchy but not taken much notice until recently. So just what does it offer a Puma qualified ex RAF SAR pilot? Is it worth a job move? It seems the latest comments suggest it may be more trouble than its worth.

delta,

i suspect that your RAF Puma may be somewhat different to the bond version - you might need a conversion course

Well it seems that Bond have ignored the applications from experienced SAR crewmen from the Coastguard because none of them seem to have been asked to an interview. Does make you wonder where they are getting there staff from.

Also heard that in Shetland they are bidding for the air ambulance work with the jigsaw aircraft up there. So where's the cover if their L2 is airlifting a patient to Aberdeen?? :confused:

Glad they're taking this SAR thing seriously. :sad:

Night Watchman

Don't blame Bond, they are only doing what the contract demands. I think it is BP who need to be questioned, but hopefully their workforce and the HSE will do that.

ri

No chance , if like all the other major oil companies , anybody who dares action, ie speak up , about there HSE policy will be " moved on"
As usual in these circumstances , things will carry on, trusting to chance that " hopefully nothing will happen whilst i am in charge " attitude.
As long as 'YES 'men are employed by these companies as chief pilots etc, we will always have these incredible hypocrisies in the aviation world.
Professionalism is a word like common sense that no longer exsists in the offshore aviation industry, it costs too much!!

NLLTGITWOAGS,

Steady on....the company I work for has many professionals and it does still exist - its just that the oil companies don't want to pay for it.

"It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you brought was incapable of doing the thing you brought it to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying too little and getting a lot - it cannot be done! So if you deal with the lowest bidder, it is wise to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better." John Ruskin. 1819 -1900,

runningin,

Me too. I work with people who manage to teach me something while learning themselves almost every day. But we are all hamstrung by cost cutting measures as a result of contractual constraints.
All the oil companies want is a bus service (or in this case a SAR service) that runs cheaply and requires little or no commercial maintenance/tweaking. IMHO most of the contracts are stitched up in such a way that they get exactly that, but with a cop out clause that almost always apportions blame on the operator (and the crew in particular) if things go wrong.
With the new QA/SMS policies in place nowadays I wonder how many past accidents/incidents, where they to be objectively reinvestigated, would have commercial pressure as an initial contributory factor ?
Sounds suspiciously like BP want to fund this project in the same way as the bus service, i.e. have their cake and eat it ??
But in this case they can't compromise, or can they ? If they do, who will get the blame if anything bad happens ?
Just a thought:ok:

NEO.

So, anyone got a job yet?;)

Wiz

Evidently the crewman and engineer interviews have been put back a month or so for some reason. I have also heard that some more pilots may also be interviewed.

RK

Interesting I have yet to meet anyone - SAR experienced pilot or rearcrew who has admitted being offered a job.

:confused:

Personally I will steer clear of a chief pilot who thinks coupled SAR OPS isn't Rocket Science. He is probably right it isn't but relevant, current experience is what keeps you out of the water on a black stormy night. 2 Weeks offshore, 2weeks Scatsta, 2 weeks line flying in ABZ. No thank you.

Any truth in the rumour that there are a number of CHC Ireland pilots who will be crossing the water.....?

I don’t know what all you guys are winging about, I think bond and bp are going to pull out all the stops on this bad boy, bp holds a big furry bag full of big green beer tokens and I’m sure if the guys don’t start flocking their way or the s**t hits the fan, I’m sure with a few extra quid any outfit could pull it off. As for experience well lets take a look at the roger nigel, there is probably more experience in stumpy hennel’s starboard flipflop than some of the guys serving there at present, loads of the original dedicated sar guys have retired. Or due to the fact that all of the shiny arsed admirals still think the ruskies are going to be carrying out beach landings at loe bar, therefore invested billions in the all singing and dancing merlin, which has either forced most of the guys into chasing imaginary subs or told the pusser to stick it where the sun don’t shine, overall leaving the coveted sar seaking squadrons with not a lot of experience. Also with the prospect of ‘sabre sar’ on the horizon it is quite easy to foresee the navy relinquishing sar altogether to save a few quid, as for the boys in light blue, they had their first taste of tony liar’s(woops missed the’b’) budget cuts and they probably will not be the last, how long will your sar squadrons last??? Personally I don’t think that 2 on and 2 off sounds that bad, I’ve done longer than that on the crest of a wave, as for the crews they hire, as long as they hire maybe 50% experienced crews, they can train up the others no big deal, if I can do it, any one can........ More jobs for the boys at the end of the day

Lord Melchet, please stop flogging it !!

To: joedirt
 

An excellent and very funny movie.

:E :E