Acceptable risks : Night offshore flying
 

Now that winter is approaching, I'd be interested in views on night time offshore landings. According to the CAA statistics, close to 100% of fatal accidents involving CFIT offshore over the past 20+ years occur at night. Is this an acceptable risk for crew and offshore workers, or should night rig landings - or at least night landings on NUI's - be prohibited by the CAA. A lot of regulation has been brought in over the past few years, such as XBR seating, new life jackets etc, but it seems to me if we want to greatly reduce fatalities offshore, we should look at limiting night flights. Otherwise, statistically, fatalities at night will sadly continue.

Should offshore helicopters be prohibited from landing in the dark then you can shut down all the Northern oil fields in the British and Norwegian sectors during the winter.

Hi fareastdriver, at the moment in winter a lot of the flying is done during daylight due to icing clearances being more restrictive at night - the oil companies accept and allow for this by manning up early morning and de-manning by about 15.00 local. It's not an impossible problem to work round, just involves the work schedules to be heavier in summer, lighter over winter.

As F.e.d says: we had months of rig shuttles on the Brent where we never flew a daytime flight with 0600/1800 shift change shuttles. Up to 10-12 landings an hour, too.

But it's now coming into summer and we have lots of lovely long sunny days, especially those where we have bushfires and smoke to contend with ;)

Sorry, couldn't resist the OT bit, but offshore night landings and operations aren't a new magic issue that hasn't been addressed before. If it is now becoming something of concern in the UK then maybe those in charge should be reviewing the check and training regime with a view to closing the error track.

Even look elsewhere for advice: Naval ops to small ships, offshore ops in other parts of the world, the techniques that saw the old and bold through safe ops for years, before the all singing and dancing glass cockpits and automated systems of today?

Is it the landings themselves that are the problem?

It doesn't look like it - it seems the CFIT element in positioning for the landings is the tricky bit.

Just use NVG and stop trying to use IF techniques mixed with visual transitions.

I think NVG's have been considered, but there's too much lighting around the rigs to make it a reasonable solution. You're right, it's probably quite often disorientation while low level shuttling close into the rigs : not sure if it would be classed as the landing or not, but it's the approach/low level phase at night that's statistically the thing that causes fatalities outside of major mechanical failures eg gearboxes.

Familiarity breeds contempt. A crew may have done a multitude of night landings on a particular design of platform or rig and are used to what the sight picture is on the approach. Put them on an approach to a platform with a different lighting arrangement and the approaches are not so perfect anymore.

Fantastic. Plug in the FMS at V1 and take over at 200 ft. on the approach; simple. How many pilots are fully up to speed within a minute or so of taking over control especially if they have been scribbling or admiring the view for the last hour or so.

I know a pilot who splashed in short. No warning; only five minutes into the flight; simple approach in good weather; SPLASH!

Night rigs
 

You will continue to fly at night until the cost based analysis says it is cheaper not to.
You will continue to fly to poorly-lit pads until the CAA enforce implementation of minimum standards.

No moon. No wind. No horizon. One rig. A fine blend of instrument and visual flying.


Agree with FED. Until the whole thing becomes automated, start hands on a long way out.


But ban night flying.....? MM mmmm, I think not.

Eacott....you drinking early again?

Dear Boy that is pure tripe....look ELSEWHERE?

Do you really think the Yanks, Canucks, and Aussies could possibly know anything about Offshore flying in the Dark?

"I think NVG's have been considered, but there's too much lighting around the rigs to make it a reasonable solution. You're right, it's probably quite often disorientation while low level shuttling close into the rigs"


From the one or landings to rigs I have done with the use of NVGs it is the lighting around the rigs that can make the use of NVGs much better - you really do get the best of both worlds - much better contrast with the water on goggles due to the large amount of ambient light around the rigs, lots of light which gives the ability to use peripheral cues "outside the goggles" as well. Later generation of NVG also handle high ambient light environments much better.


NVG aren't a silver bullet however IMHO certainly do have some really good advantages for offshore work - have any trials actually been performed in order to determine what they could do for the industry???

Having flown with NVG's and FLIR along with a Night Sun with FLIR Filter....that is the only way to fly in the Dark. It certainly beats hell out of the MK I Eyeball!

Current generation Goggles don't have near the Wash Out problems the earlier ones did. Combined with even fixed FLIR systems that only give a Look Ahead View....Goggles would be an improvement.

But....of course the CAA would have kittens over it and the Operators would not want to spend the money.....and the Oil Companies would see it as increasing the Safety costs.

Thanks for the info about NVG's - I've no experience at with them, so may be worth looking at. I'm not sure what the answer is, but just find it interesting looking at stats that for all the efforts to reduce fatalities in the offshore world, the one thing which would ensure lives saved over the next 10 years would be to stop night offshore operations. If that's not a viable option - oil companies being reluctant to adjust their work so much being a reasonable assumption - then the next step in my mind would be stop night flights to small NUI's. If that's not likely then NVG's may help. My main concern really is that having flown about 20 years offshore, the one common situation that I know has scared, with close calls, or ended up killing offshore crews and workers is night time operations. It seems as an industry we haven't properly addressed the issue - either ensure the crews are flying night time regularly enough to be comfortable and current or look at restricting the operations.

Absolutely agree with Turkeyslapper and SASless - the NVG technology is significantly improved and it is quite straightforward to make an approach to a brightly lit site using them.

It may be that the reluctance to allow their use in non-military operations is in part due to having to keep the USA on-side since they provide the export licences for them.

I don't know how widespread the use of NVG in non-mil ops is in the US but there certainly does seem to have been some paranoia about NVG falling into the wrong hands.

Prawnking's no moon, no,wind, no horizon scenario is still made significantly more comfortable using NVG AND autopilot functions and the rig will provide all the cultural lighting you need.

John eacott, didn't you write off a BK117 simply flying into Bankstown NVFR to a lit pad?

No.

I had a tail rotor strike on a tree when landing at a completely dark, unlit area outside a hangar late at night when positioning for a fire call. The trees were cut down by Bankstown Airport a few days later, certainly shouldn't have been there! My BK was back up and running and spent many years of fun flying.

I'm always comfortable sharing experiences to help others avoid mistakes, but there's no point in trying to infer the accident was worse than it was. It certainly has no bearing on offshore flying.

Cut my teeth night flying over the sea.
Probably 60 - 70% of all my naval flying was totally negative external visual references. One quickly learns to worship the Rad Alt, relies heavily on the co-pilot for another. One became fatigued quite quickly - burning holes in the instruments. Watching every twitch and rate change of all the needles. 40 feet above certain death - and far away from "mother".
Then the time came to 'recover' and land on this light shadow moving against a darker shadow, watching and waiting for the 'lull' picking your moment when you literally throw 9 tonnes of thrashing metal at a space no bigger than a squash court.
Deck lights come on, smiling people emerging from the darkness, aircrew nervously laughing - just another normal night op......................

The innocence of youth. :uhoh:

In answer to the OP: I guess it's down to training and discipline. Oh - and how much you value your life, I suppose!

TC et Al
 

Oh yes I remember those times very well but my real night horrors were whilst on the Fulmar doing night shuttles around the field in all weathers in a 105DB with no rad alt and single pilot.

I've said it before on Prune but if the helicopter was equipped with a dial called a 'skill meter' then there were plenty of times when it was knocking on the top stops. Landing an S76 at night in pouring rain on some of the southern North Sea decks was a real test.

In terms of risk management you have a dilemma, to maintain a 24 hour capability for medevac etc. you actually need people who are current and 3 deck landings at night every 90 days doesn't really do it. You select people for night standby and train them every month then one night one of the captains goes sick and you have to draft in a ninety-day man (or woman) then you have racked up the risk. The costs of keeping everyone on a 30 day requirement would be astronomical unless you lease a decommissioned rig and put it 10 miles off Aberdeen and maybe others where they can be accessed within minutes rather than hours.

G :ok:

I think there are plenty of us on these pages who have scared themselves fartless doing 'mortal' or 'reversionary' night flying in the past whether it is overland with dust or overwater with no references.

We are in the 21st century now and such high skill-level events should not be required in the offshore or corporate (see other threads) sectors - if only because the training/licensing system doesn't produce the guaranteed high quality output required to meet those events.

NVG opens up the world of night flying and makes it so much safer and less-stressful - every pilot who has flown using them will agree, I have no doubt.

Just move on.

Odd.....everyone with real life experience with NVG's swears by them.

Am I missing something?

Are there some Training Kingdom's at risk if that Technology is brought into use and there is an Experience Requirement to be a Trainer?