Sluicegate.....bet your Liver looked like a Rugby Football upon return!:oh:

Big Al. Mr Biles on sick 212 in Nigeria (Eket?)

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psd133cfc3.jpg

I think the Shell logo and the overhead (but intact) wires overhead give a clue to this event. Suspect PH early 90s - how not to do an air test.

Missing overhead green transparency, evidence of high RoD on impact, tailboom top mounts weren't 'big enough', Seat pins sheared (18g AFAIR) I think AB can tell us how far down the 'Hell Hole' the Main TXMN was.

C'mon Oldlae, I know its Sunday morning but .. you could at least have cropped the photo square! ;)

Would be interested to know a little more about what happened. A Bristow fishing trip gone wrong perhaps!

TOD

Wasn't that SJ's famous air test? The Doc and 212 Man would know I am sure.

I think Doc was still scrabbling around the rivers in a well used Jet Ranger and (young) 212 Man was still hiding in ABZ before being dragged out to Eket a year or so later. I was up in Warri at the time; yes the SJ event.

It's just as well that OLAE cropped the TR off, there wasn't much left anyway

TOD

And the punishment was a transfer to Trinidad....as the culprit was a Bristow Trained British Cadet.

Getting out of PHC to Trinidad was something a lot of folks had been begging for but it took a Hijacking and being held Hostage for some to make the escape. (With a resulting cut in pay).

Umm SAS, I normally agree with you on 90% of things but I'm afraid this is in the 10%. I am a little bemused by your contradictory statement that Trini was desired by thousands - but you got less pay so the thousands didn't want to go?! As you know, I am one of those BTBCs. I don't recollect SJ having a long career in BHL after the event, but then my memory is probably not as good as yours :p

It was off to Trinidad with him.....which somehow seemed a bit short of an adverse entry into his personnel file for writing off an aircraft due to sheer stupidity....not to mention nearly killing the Engineer that was along for the Air Test.

if you recall, another Pilot at the same base was sacked over a "Low Flying Complaint" that did not result in damage to the aircraft.

You failed to tweak to what I said.....After being Hijacked, held hostage, and asking to be posted, the fellow took a huge pay cut upon being sent to Trinidad. Sounds like a strong sense of loyalty to the folks who had been with the company for 20 years or more.

SAS you are off the mark. SJ Spent quite a time in a spine cast having had his licence and logbook confiscated by the NCAA staying was not an option.

Bellboy.....I firmly agree.....staying was not an option....I would have tied a Can to his Tail and sent him down the road. People got the Sack for much lesser Sin's than writing off an aircraft through stupidity.

It caused the company a lot of bother with Shell when added to some others. I think that was when they got the "if another accident happens, Bristow will lose all the Shell contracts" speech.

Port Harcourt, after flying through wires on an air test

Way, way back in about 1968/9 a WS55III out of PH for, I think, Warri went into the bush, I believe the pilot, (nickname 'Bentnose'), said he got a mis-match when changing from auto to manual throttle control. Shell threatened to take away the Nigerian contract then and give it to Aero Contractors! Threatening to change suppliers is, I am told, a standard Shell practice.

PH Bell 212 air-test accident & Warri hijack
 

At Eket we used to fly a regular 'bus' run to the Shell IA in PH. I recall seeing the sad outcome of that accident parked in the hangar with a tape 'fence' around it - scary to see a cracked 'I' beam pushed up through the cabin floor!

SASless - As another product of the Redhill FTS I recall that we were all being painted with the same 'tar brush' as S.J. by the other pilots following that accident. This accident lead to the Company Policy on 'Indisciplined Flying'. The pilot, a very senior company pilot and not trained by the FTS, who was sacked over the famous PH 'Santa Claus' event had previously had a warning for a similar event. I was based in Redhill at the time when he was invited in for an interview without tea & biscuits, and he asked for a fellow colleague to sit in on that interview.

The 'Indisciplined Flying' policy also led to the sacking of one of your fellow countrymen when he beat up the Mobil beach compound at Eket. If you recall the previous Mobil manager used to request a helicopter to fly-by on a Sunday afternoon to entertain his guests, but that Manager had been replaced before the above event. I readily admit doing at least one wing-over (not a torque turn and without passengers on-board) at that beach compound before the 'Indisciplined Flying' policy, and other pilots including non-FTS products did something similar. Brightened up life in Eket at the time.

With regard to the Warri hijacking and subsequent stay 'up country' I recall a slight variation to your version. I was in Warri doing a standards visit at the time of the hostage negotiations, and was back in Redhill when the 2 pilots had been released and flown out of country. After company medical checks the Company Doctor advised that they did not return to work in Nigeria, so the company looked at relocating them. The British pilot having a CAA licence could easily be relocated to another 212 operation worldwide (cannot remember where), however the American pilot did not have a CAA licence so his only option was Trinidad, thus it was a drop in pay or no job.

I remember you dropping me off at the beach after a couple of wing overs, as I exited the aircraft with towel under my arm the germans trying to chat up the latest girlfriend (Patti, now wife for 14 years and mother of two sons) decided if I can arrange that type of entrance I wasn't to be taken likely!!!!

S

.. or even lightly!

Happy days Stacey!

Were you not also driving the Israeli road grader with Barry on the beach which meant I had to climb up a bit before a wing-over! Fortunately no photos exist (that I'm aware of) although it was the end of my 'Indisciplined Flying' displays!!

Wing-overs and low-level beat-ups are things of the past sadly. I am glad that I experienced fun flying before the days of trial by mobile phone and youtube.

Adroight

How true. I was lucky. In China eveybody thinks a helicopter belongs to the PLA so they're not going to complain.