whirlygig
 

good-on-yer-sport.

didn't think it would be a country full of wowsers just waiting for the odd aussie to show the way.

I bet he also treated the broads with less than boredom.

Isn't that country close to ireland where they do the cheap 'fuel supply interrupter instals'?

Hey, don't forget all the Saffies over here! Pretty much every bar I've ever been into in the UK employs at least a Saffie or an Ozzie (or a Zimbo), sometimes both!

Have to say, though, it is nice to live in a country that serves a good variety of decent beer. SAB :yuk:

Eh? Who did?!
I suspect that Norfolk is the furthest England can get from Ireland. No doubt someone will prove me wrong but I can't be far out!

Anyway, we have digressed into childish and frivolous banter as to the merits (or otherwise) of living in the Flatlands compared with the Granite City! Pandalet, that usually means that the guys and gals on here probably don't have much more to add!

Cheers

Whirls

When you've sat around in various hovels twiddling your thumbs - i said thumbs -:E then it is quite nice to go to work, get in the aircraft, nice complex one as well gear goes up and generally down, and go and fly. No sitting around waiting for the s@#t to hit the can so you can fire up, fly 10 mins, and go into the hover for 1 hour, or when not flying doing all the paperwork that goes with small company operations.
Horses for courses but we all go to work to earn our living, i do anyway.

Oil rig flying
 

Pandalet, i'll try to give you a brief outline of how i find north sea flying.
I worked up in Aberdeen for about 5 and a half years, before moving to Humberside where i've been for the past 18 months. The other UK bases are Blackpool and North Deanes/Norwich.
Aberdeen fly the longer routes, which vary from about 45 mins each way, up to 2 hours each way roughly. They use pumas, and are introducing the Sikorski S92, both large helicopters which carry 19 passangers over the longer distances. The southern bases fly a mixture of Sikorski S76 and Duaphines, carrying up to 10 passangers over flights lasting between 10 mins and about 50 mins each way.
Flights out of Aberdeen usually involve 1 to 3 rig landings per trip, with the rest of time straight and level, doing routine cruise checks. The southern bases usually do a lot more sectors, with Blackpool having the most (up to about 20 odd decks per trip). Although the flying is slightly different between Aberdeen and the southern bases, if i were you, i'd just try and work out of a base where you'd like to live, rather than move there because of the flying enviroment. There's not that much difference between the work in the seperate bases. In a similar way, you'll find people will prefer one North Sea helicopter company over another, but i'd just go with whichever one offers you the first job. All the companies have their good and bad points, but overall they're probably more alike than not. I really enjoyed my time at Aberdeen, and would happily move back there in the future if the chance arose, but i'm settling in nicely to Humberside now. I suppose it's like most things, and as long as you don't aprroach the area with the expectation that you're not going to enjoy living there, then any of the bases would be ok to work and live.
Apart from a small number of pilots employed as offshore based pilots, working 2 weeks on 2 weeks off, and based either on the forties, in the northern north sea, or the Leman in the southern north sea, the shifts are basically either lates or earlies. Lates, starting around lunchtime, and ending when the day's flying finishes, with you then being on call at home until 10pm, and earlies starting at 6 am and finishing when the late crews take over. You get to go home each night. The different bases work there own shift pattern but they all work out with about 10 days off a month, then around 40 days leave a year, although we don't get any public holidays.
A lot of the replies mention the boredom, which is something i'd disagree with. I think it's more that it becomes routine flying. For a while i thought i'd like to go and try doing EMS or Police flying, but i figure that after the initial excitement of flying a different type, and flying in a different way had worn off, that job would become routine as well. Some days the weather makes it more interesting than others, but most days it's just a regular relaxed flight out and back.
I don't know if i'll carry on doing this forever, but after 7+ years i think the cons of the job (routineness being the primary one) are vastly overshadowed by the pros (good time off, with enough money to do the stuff that you really enjoy in the time away from work). If it got to the point when i disliked going to work, i guess i'd look for a change then, but most days it's reasonably enjoyable.
Hope that helps answer your question. All the best, Andy:ok:

I would have to disagree that EMS becomes routine. I've been doing it for 5 years now, and I still enjoy going to work. Whereas North Sea flying was fairly well set in stone. e.g. 040degrees /2000'/ 20mins to the Leman, EMS is different everyday, and flight planning consists of looking in the direction you want to go, and making it up from there.

As a means of hours building, and instrument time, the North Sea is the place to go, but after 4000, 5000, 6000 hours whatever, how much more experience of flying in a straight line do you want?

When you are starting out, take the first job offered, and get the experience/types/instrument rating, after that you start looking for the job you want to really do.

Fair enough, i've never flown EMS, so can't really comment specifically. Just my impression would be that after a while any job's going to become routine. That doesn't mean that the job stops being enjoyable or becomes boring, just that the initial excitement of doing something different will wear off.

On that basis i'd say you either change jobs every few years, or else use your job to allow you to have fun away from work.

I'd agree though that at the start just take any job you can get to gain experience.

Right On
 

Andy,

I agree with everything you've said in both your posts mate. It's worth considering every aspect, but these days you do need the experience (in an employer's eyes) first !! Maybe as we become more valuable (nobody trains pilots in quantity anymore) we'll be able to choose a bit easier ?

Cheers,

NEO

Andy,

you hit it on the nail, but you forgot to mention the excellent Nightshift in Blackpool. I also think I know you. Well I took the chance and have taken an onshore Job, which is seriously exciting.

it seems curious that so many posts mentioned the failings of great yarmouth !, whilst scotland is much much more than aberdeen, norfolk is much more than great yarmouth.

I dont think hardly any of the pilots live there anyway, the majority living norwich way.

this comparing EMS, police, corporate and offshore flying is all bogus, ALL helicopter flying gets dull if you do enough of it. you need to ask a few questions.

which role pays the most ?, which gives you most time off ?, which gives you least standby on base ?, which is the most interesting flying ? etc etc.

for me I get s**t loads of time off and have the financial situation to enjoy it.

an flight instructor generally will have a salary that starts with a 1 or 2
a police or air ambulance pilots salary may start with a 3 or 4
a corporate pilots salary may start with a 5
an offshore captains salary will start with a 6 or 7

the figures speak for themselves, doing interesting flying has a high opportunity cost.

and if offshore flying is so bad why are so may people applying to the 3 companies all the time, because belive me they are !

regards

CF