SAR vs Oil & Gas Operating Costs
 

Hey folks,

I was talking with someone from Bristow who mentioned that the maintenance costs charged to customers is way more for Search and Rescue compared to Oil and Gas transport. Is that just because O&G end-customers are commercial and expect cheaper prices than from government Search and Rescue customers? Or is there actually something different in the missions that account for the cost difference?

Yes, one is commercial the other is the tax payer, guess which costs 'more'?

One involves hovering at 50 feet in salt spray for prolonged periods, and other maintenance heavy tasks that aren’t triggered by a straight and level transit at 2000’. Not sure how many winch cable inspections a crew change aircraft does either.

Plus the additional crew members, FLIR, NVG’s, rigorous currency/proficiency requirements for a very broad skill set. Apples ain’t apples.

In terms of maintenance costs, you also have the additional role equipment that needs to be funded, depreciated and maintained. Due to lower utilisation any maintenance that is both calendar and hours triggered will almost certainly come around on a calendar basis, which then increases the "flight hour" cost of the airframe that the customer would see.

Plus you are providing maintenance personnel on a 24hr basis at SAR bases which is a necessity but they may not be getting as much work done as they would if they were in a hangar in Aberdeen. They need to be there but they are not necessarily as productive as they would be in a bigger base.

Tasks requiring a sustained hover a few feet from a random obstacle, whether that be a stationary cliff or a moving mast, generate a different risk profile.

All about different tasks, different contractual requirements, different duty cycle, different tools, different regulations, different risk profile. So-o-o-o-o happy to read of this cost difference.

Ignoring the multiple variables of SAR crewing which are dependent on coverage required, in pure aircraft operating cost, SAR is around 20-25% more expensive than equivalent crew change due to increased wear and tear on the aircraft and equipment complexity.