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Inmate - I'm glad that the pictures brought back some memories. I'm sure it looks a lot different to how it was in '64.... but maybe not as different as it is now, following the events of the last few months.
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but maybe not as different as it is now, following the events of the last few months. |
Rosh
Did I hear right that CX was destroyed in the conflict in Libya? :sad: I ferried that one when it came to the UK in January 1986 and nurtured it through the IHUMS trials in '87. If I remember correctly, only certain crews were authorised to fly CX whilst it was accruing IHUMS time CX was even involved in the BBC Production of "The Bell Run", a play partially filmed offshore Aberdeen about North Sea Diving. Even though I flew the a/c for the filming, never got a role as an extra cos I wasn't in Equity - lol http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/v...lad/cxscan.jpg John W |
CX, what a warrior. A last survivor of the Bristow China operations, the last UK registerd aircarft I ever captained at 64 years,11 months, 27 days in February 2005 punched off in that great 747 out of Hong Kong a year later and apparantly sculled around a bit before it reached Libya.
A great paint job in Malta. |
CX was left in Libya, but it's current condition is unknown, but considering where it was hangared, and this photo, I doubt if it's ready to fly!
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...rt-blog480.jpg Ali Mahmoud, a Libyan rebel, drew a caricature of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on an aircraft seized in Misurata on Thursday. |
Fareast Driver - After CX left Hong Kong in the 747, it headed to Kenya where we had it alongside G-TIGB operating out of Mombassa, before finally ending up in Libya.
John - I'm not sure of the whereabouts or condition of CX at present. Fingers crossed, we'll see her again. CX in Mombassa 2006/7 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ya20060005.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...alan/kENYA.jpg |
CX
Only reason I asked was because of the report in Helihub (Got to grab whatever info I can get now that I am retired and away from the North Sea)
05-Apr-11 G-BMCX Eurocopter AS332L Misurata, Libya Helicopter destroyed in hangar as a result of the local unrest in the country. Date is approximate, not confirmed. Date 05-Apr-11 Make Eurocopter Model AS332 Reg G-BMCX Country Libya Location Misurata Air Base CivilMilitary Civil MSN 2164 Operator Bristow-Helicopters John W |
Hopefully if post 1752 was taken on the 14th July there may be some hope for it. (Unless Bristow have already pocketed the insurance.)
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FED,
the picture file was 'modified' on the 13th of May, so sadly taken well before the 14th July... |
Looks like the second part of my post has come to fruition. Mind you it had a good innings. Tufty was always telling us that it had the highest hours of the Bristow machines.
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(Unless Bristow have already pocketed the insurance.) |
Before I "left" Bristows in 09, I am sure GE had the highest fleet hours. I can't remember the exact amount but I do remember thinking "As many hours as that?" as I signed the tech Log before a flight
It was the original "Marathon" a/c for the Brae so had a load of flying. I am sure some present BHL guys can enlighten me JohnW |
You're probably right, John. I would not have thought that CX, even though it was really hammered when in China, could have caught up.
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From G-INFO
G-BMCX Total Hours:25887 at 31/12/2009 (Still on the Register today). G-TIGE Total Hours:38450 at 31/12/2010. |
More from Tim N,
These are of the Whirlwind series 3 in Dubai circa 1970. My Dad can be seen with his head in the engine so to speak. The next shot is the helicopter returning from the Gulf back into Dubai and the other is the cockpit of the whirlwind. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ures/Helo1.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ures/Helo2.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ures/Helo3.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...res/Helo31.jpg Mike Austin working on the rotor head and also in picture 2 from a different angle. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ures/Helo4.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ures/Helo5.jpg |
TIGO in Brazil
A story of taking a highly sophisticated flying machine into the middle of nowhere…… Back in 2001 I was lucky enough to be offered the chance of being one of the team to support an Aberdeen based Tiger that was to be based in Northern Brazil in support of a 6 month offshore drilling campaign by BP. At the time I was still posting stuff on the Skyweaver website so armed with a non-digital camera I intended to take lots of pictures to tell the complete story of a typical posting into the middle of nowhere. Not just the flying maintenance side of things. As all of us know, the flying and maintenance side of a new overseas posting is normally the easiest part of job. Getting used to unfamiliar surroundings, working with local population, erratic communications, support network and spares back-up, poor facilities, challenging climates, bugs and wildlife (including the local girls!), dodgy food and water supplies, less than ideal accommodation all make for memorable tours. Obviously, I will spread the 50 odd pictures over quite a few postings. The comments on the pictures might seem a little "basic" at times, but they were added for friends and relatives quite a while ago. So here we go… http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...mapa/amapa.jpg On or about January 6th 2001 G-TIGO left Southampton on a freighter bound for Jacksonville, Florida. From there it departed on an approximately 5 day ferry flight to Amapa in the state of Amapa, Brazil. I had a particular interest in this particular contract as I was one of the engineers manning it. Amapa lies close to the equator in the Amazon Delta, the climate being tropical with humidity reaching 100% with wet and dry seasons. The airstrip forms part of an old U.S. Air force base dating back to the 2nd World War when it was used as a base for antisubmarine patrols. This web address has some interesting pictures of the Airships and crews that were based at Amapa airfield in 1945. http://www.flickr.com/photos/grappie/with/3087449335/ The contract was for an initial 120 day offshore drilling programme for BP and the aircraft to be used was a Bristow International AS 332L Tiger (G-TIGO) with an S61 provided by Aeroleo as a back-up. The Tiger was IHUMS equipped. 7/03/2001 The following is an excerpt from a phone call by Ian Robinson: “It's like working in a water fall........no hangar, no spares yet, snags galore, no hot water at "hotel", 12-14 hour days, flying the ***** off it. All surrounding "land" 3 feet underwater. Bring wellies, mossie net, multi vits, anti s**t pills, rehydration salts, etc etc but you can get a cold beer although no time to drink it!” Yup, I was really looking forward to it............... 30/05/2001 "And how it really panned out.................." http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...paairfield.jpg So this was our first view of the base, turning down wind, on board the North Star Bandeirante having taken off from Belem 1 hour 30 minutes previously. The total journey time from home was about 40 hours, routing Heathrow, San Paulo, Rio, Belem, Amapa. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...calmorning.jpg This was the scene at 7.30am on a typical morning when things were running smoothly (ok, probably an exception!) The Bristow/Aeroleo staff having left the "Hotel" at 6ish will have endured the 10 km tortuous journey to work along a dirt track filled with pot holes, mud holes and lined with vultures. Comments like " ooh look, is that a ****" ( Replace **** with any form of wildlife we saw EVERY morning) didn't help matters! The picture shows the North Star Bandeirante taxiing in to drop off passengers who having flown up from Belem would then be whisked through the terminal and boarded on the Tiger for the 1h 30m flight to the drill ship CR Luigs. The "hangar" was for show only for the first six weeks at Amapa as the floor resembled the dirt track mentioned above. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...pa/CRLuigs.jpg The drill ship CR Luigs tasked with drilling two holes thousands of feet below the surface and held on position with GPS controlled trim engines. The first hole was approximately 200 miles offshore and the second about 175 miles which gave a round trip sortie time of about 3 hours. The manifest for the Tiger included everything from core samples to cauliflowers and sometimes pushed us to the limits trying to deal with surprise cargo in torrential rain. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Amapacity.jpg Amapa city, the second biggest "city" in the state of Amapa and our home for six weeks. Note the lack of traffic as all roads out of town turned into dirt tracks, the nearest neighbouring sizeable town being Macapa some 100 km to the South. Communication in the early days was mainly with sign language with meal ordering resembling a game of charades. The language is the Brasilian form of Portuguese and my thanks goes out to Sylvia, an Aeroleo dispatcher, who, with patience, managed to get us to speak a few words which made the second half of the tour far more fun! Accommodation was in the Amapa Hotel which I suppose we would class as a back packer hostel but things did improve with the arrival of hot water. Often, breakfast would consist of little more than stale bread and water. The restaurant I have labelled in the photo was the favourite social venue where we were well looked after by Soraya and Talita. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/Boarding.jpg Probably about 7.45am with TIGO on the hot spot. The crew consisted of a Bristow training captain and an Aberdeen trained Aeroleo captain. All the Aeroleo staff were working a rotating 15 days on, 15days off routine. ....to be continued............. |
TIGO In Brazil 2
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...eplacement.jpg Finally, we had enough concrete on the hangar floor to get half of the Tiger under cover. The picture shows GPC endeavouring to replace a timex main gearbox support fitting which would put the aircraft AOG if this couldn't be accomplished. The replacement item was on its way (apparently!) in a single-engined light aircraft but the weather at the airfield for most of the day was grim, with heavy rain and very low cloud. The crane had been brought up from Macapa and with the help of a JCB digger made it through the mud and into the hangar. The gearbox weight was then supported and everything prepared for the part replacement but by 2pm the weather was still awful and nothing had been heard from Jay Lacaze who was in the light aircraft. At 3pm there were a few breaks in the clouds and shortly after, the sound of a small plane could be made out and sure enough out of the murk came the gearbox fitting which was on the aircraft within 30 minutes and the whole team in Edmilson's bar within the hour! http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Raincovers.jpg Prior to being able to get the aircraft under cover, Ian and Kev had these covers made up which if you look closely you can just make out about 20 guy ropes that held them all in place. On a nice single flight day with fine weather and a team of six, putting the covers on was manageable, however, in the pouring rain, wind blowing, a team of two and after the third flight with darkness imminent.......................*?!*"#!?. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...gistration.jpg The Bristow crew, arriving late after a well deserved lie in, were astounded to see the registration on the Tiger had changed to PP-MIM even though we were still on the British register. After much discussion Brazilian style G-TIGO was restored and PP-MIM painted over (see pic)until a few days later when we finally made the Brazilian register, which was no mean feat in itself, when the whole process was reversed. Kev Smith would probably need many years of counselling after this posting!! http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Aeroleo76.jpg Just when we thought we couldn't reach any higher celebrity status in the town the Aeroleo S76 breezed onto the scene. By coincidence the road back to town was yet again blocked and we flew over the town looking for a suitable landing site which turned out to be the hospital forecourt just opposite the hotel. Four minutes by S76 or forty minutes down the muddy track - I know which I preferred, however we only managed to squeeze a return trip out of it. As I was taking this picture, the wall behind me was packed with about 100 children who had run over to watch the helicopter landing. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Amapakids.jpg |
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Smashing pics and enjoyable narrative! :ok: No close-ups of Sylvia? And .. your 'nightclub' appears to be in the middle of a street - lol! |
You don't think I'd put the pictures of the girls on first do you :)
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TIGO in Brazil 3
Plenty of time to do this today. Wife has gone to UK for two weeks at short notice. Son has abadoned me to stay with a mate for a week. On-call all weekend. 33C, so too bloody hot to do much else. So, part 3 http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...apa/PT-YEK.jpg Ex Falklands machine PT-YEK also taking advantage of the newly concreted strip of hangar floor in order to change an engine mount. The S61 was on site as a backup for the Tiger acting as an SAR machine and occasionally doing the odd rig trip but in this roll it was limited due to payload/range limitations. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Journalist.jpg Coasting back from the drillship CR Luigs with yours truly on a photo-jolly and luckily an empty cabin. The in flight meal was excellent ( ex rig ), and after a short nap, a visit to the cockpit. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ointSylvia.jpg The picture shows the crew discussing the co-ordinates of waypoint Sylvia!!! Seriously! http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...viaandTIGO.jpg Guess who... |
Thanks Chris.
Is GE still the high time Tiger? John W |
TIGO in Brazil 4
As I touched on earlier, it would be almost impossible to set up a new overseas helicopter operation, in a remote location, without the knowledge and help of the local agent / population. Over the last 60 years or so, many of the local work force have gone on to have lengthy careers with Bristows especially in places such as Nigeria and Malaysia and of course many Bristow staff eventually settled down with local girls. Even though this Brazil BP operation was relatively short lived we got to work with, socialise with and know a great bunch of people from the guys at the sharp end flying and maintaining the aircraft all the way down to the great Edmilson (labourer, odd job man, ran closest bar to work … a many of many hats.) We needed people to drive us, house us, feed us, sort out the bureaucracy, find us trucks with cranes when we needed them and a hundred other things that need sorting out behind the scenes. There were three groups of people that were directly involved in getting the job done:- The first consisted of the people responsible for looking after the Super Puma. Me and Ian (avionic engs.) Guy or Kev (A and C) and Grahame and Neil??? (Pilots) - all British. The second part of the team were all Brazilian, worked for Bristow's partner (Aeroleo) and looked after the back-up helicopter (S61), flew as second crew on the Tiger and also organised the passengers and freight. This group also consisted of engineers, pilots and dispatchers - about 7 of them at any one time. They had two crews and rotated every couple of weeks back to the main bases a lot further south!! And like their English work colleagues, they also suffered from culture shock finding things as difficult as us at times! They were mostly good fun to work with, some more serious than others, some more faithful to their partners than others!!! The third part of the team were the locally employed people hired by Beckman - "Mr Organiser". He was the guy to get things done! I suppose we had about 5 or 6 local people working with us - all good people :) Beckman organised transport, drivers, cranes etc etc. Without him we would have been doomed from the start. I am not sure I would ever trust him to look after my daughter though !! (if I had one) All the above either lived or stayed in Amapa town so we often socialised together as far as the language barrier would allow. Some of the Brazilian crew "socialised" a little too closely!! So, a few pics of some of the team........ http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...danRicardo.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...AmapaHotel.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...pa/Antonio.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...lva-Santos.jpg Me and Guy also in this one. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...rfloorteam.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ellingteam.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...orgenKarin.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Engineout.jpg |
Cut out the crap. Where's Sylvia?.......just joking, super posts.
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Gone but not forgotten
Gone but not forgotten
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Dave, what a great story, looking forward to reading more. Also looking forward to more photos too, however, Super Pumas, S61s, Bandeirantes, Hangars.....yep we've seen all those, you must have more of Sylvia though.
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Goose, you are correct, Adam Faith did buy and learn to fly in MY in 1980.
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Dave
For a minute I thought that said Bar Silvanas, would have made me feel right at home. I see that you used to sleep in helicopters even back then!! |
TIGO in Brazil 5
So as we leave the operation for a while let’s head off to town. The daily commute. In the Amazon Delta it can rain! During our first month at Amapa it rained, rained and rained some more. Amazon rain is heavy! Everything was soaked, our clothes, us, the helicopter (inside and out), the hotel rooms, the roads were water logged and just mud. Just getting to and from work was a nightmare. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/Rainrain.jpg During the rainy season the water level in the surrounding swamp/marshland crept slowly upwards until making the mud track impassable some days. The only things that really seemed to enjoy the rain were the water buffalo. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...pa/Buffalo.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ilycommute.jpg Every morning the Bristow/Aeroleo staff having left the "Hotel" at 6ish will have endured the 10 km tortuous journey to work along a dirt track filled with pot holes, mud holes and lined with vultures probably waiting for us to get permanently stuck in the mud. The journey could take 30 minutes to two hours by minibus or 4 minutes by helicopter!! ……and here we all are on the return journey, in the steamed up minibus. We were stuck again! Not exactly an all-terrain vehicle that minibus. Needless to say I was standing in 6 inches of liquid brown mud taking this picture. You might remember a picture in Part 4 with a shoe shine man, I got my money’s worth out of the shoe shine man that night J http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Stuckinmud.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...inibuslift.jpg |
A most enjoyable collection of pics Dave E. Thanks for sharing them with us. I hope there is more to come.:D
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TIGO in Brazil 6
So, to Amapa…………….. And to refresh your memories of the basic layout........ http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Amapacity.jpg Amapa "city", the second biggest city in the state of Amapa was to be our home for those 3 months. Note the lack of traffic as all roads that led out of town turned into dirt tracks although there was a regular bus service to and from Macapa, the nearest sizeable town 100km to the South and of course the nightmare road to the airfield. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...mapastreet.jpg I have no idea how many people lived in the town itself. It was never very busy but one thing we soon learnt was that hardly anyone spoke a word of English. Communication in the early days was mainly with sign language with meal ordering resembling a game of charades. We had special signs for beef, fish, and chicken!! BUT just try and order a salad with sign language :) Not that there were ever many vegetables or salads……..this is a strictly meat eating part of the world and the rarer the better. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...apastreet2.jpg The town consisted of one long main road through the centre of the town with a few other roads leading off to seemingly no-where! It had a few small shops, a pharmacy, lots of small bars and "restaurants" an abattoir just outside town where a buffalo or two were slaughtered on a daily basis - we passed it on the way to work. Vultures lined the wooden fences as we passed by. There was the all important hardware store which was a godsend but I was a bit disappointed with the lack of Super Puma parts. It also had a hospital, a few small basic hotels, a night club, schools, small food shops, football field and a small stadium where regular fiestas were held. In fact, it was a nice little town where you could get most of the things you needed for a reasonable standard of living. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ortropical.jpg On our first night we were guided to and introduced to Soraya who owned and ran one of the more popular restaurants in town. This restaurant turned out to be the hub of our social life in Amapa and was frequented by almost whole team, supporting TIGO and YEK, at some time or another. This was the first of many evenings and Sunday lunchtimes at the Sabor Tropical when we would sit, eat, drink beer, learn the language, and generally watch the small world of Amapa go by. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...apa/Cowboy.jpg Those Sunday lunchtimes, with most of the team, drinking seemingly endless cold beers and watching girls on bicycles and horses amble by was one of the highlights of the week. Simple pleasures J http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...pa/Bicycle.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ertainment.jpg .........and if you were desperate for a beer and couldn't make it as far as Soraya's there was this cosy little restaurant complete with semi open air toilet where you could watch the world go by. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/Smallbar.jpg ..........and a picture taken from this bar of one of the busy road junctions during evening rush hour....... most of these pics must have been from my second six week tour as it all looks a lot less wet! http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ewfromabar.jpg |
TIGO in Brazil 7
Accomodation. Accommodation was in the Amapa Hotel, not likely to ever get into the World’s leading hotels directory. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...AmapaHotel.jpg I suppose I would class it as a back packer’s hostel but things did improve up to a 1 star rating with the arrival of hot water although most of us were scared to use it due to early instances of minor electrocution! It was run by a woman, Conceicao and her two reluctant teenage daughters Sarah and Matah. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ldaughters.jpg On a good day, if Sarah and Matah got up before 6am (pretty unlikely for a teenager anywhere in the world) breakfast would consist of little more than stale bread and water and some fruit if you were really lucky :( On most days it was help yourself to anything you could find in the kitchen or hope the small kitchen at the airfield terminal was going to be open. I don't have any pictures of inside the room, just the view from the door. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/Roomview.jpg It was pretty basic but with en-suite - cold water though during the cool rainy season!!! The mattresses were a bit infested with bugs and a mosquito net was a real necessity. The aircon was pretty noisy but at least I had one! When it rained, the room leaked badly and careful positioning of the bed was necessary to keep dry through the night. Did I sleep well in Amapa??? No, not at all! Unless I had drunk lots of beer - so sometimes :) The Bristow team stayed at the Amapa hotel along with Aeroleo Pilot’s and dispatchers. The Aeroleo engineers stayed at another hotel in town but it couldn’t have been much worse than ours. Bugs and animals An excerpt from my small diary: 23rd Bitten by a dog! (me) S61 Co-pilot in hospital (Bites!) Ricardo in clinic - bitten. All during the same afternoon. We didn’t really get to see an abundance of Amazonian wild life but one or two interesting animals as you can see from the pictures. And millions of mosquitoes and ants that were a real pain as could be the town dogs! You couldn't go out in the evening without covering yourself in 100% DEET. The mossies were BIG and quite capable of biting through clothing and sleeping under mosquito nets was a necessity. As you have seen previously, there were plenty of water buffalo wallowing in the swampy wetlands and lots of vultures hanging around at the abattoir. And the most common bird - Egrets - white Stork looking things. Occasionally when we were sitting at Edmilson’s, a hunter would pass by on a bike enquiring if we would be interested in buying his latest catch. Some jungle tree deer squirrely thing. Just because we didn’t buy it, it didn’t mean we didn’t get to eat it. There were some evenings, at Sorayas’, when the barbecue was filled with similar looking skinned things with lots of bones! Cooked rare of course….I don’t think they even lit the charcoal some nights L http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...apa/Hunter.jpg It was also a hunter who turned up at the hotel with a Leopard cub one evening…. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Leopardcub.jpg ……and for a few days this little Armadillo made an appearance at the office. He disappeared after that……..probably another barbecue treat:bored: http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Armadillo.jpg It's hard to imagine everyone in these pictures is now ten years older including the Leopard and Armadillo! Next time…… Guy cooks at curry at Sorayas. |
TIGO in Brazil 8
10 should do it! In part one I put in a link to an amazing set of pretty good quality black and white images taken by someone who was stationed at the airfield in 1945. The airfield was constructed in the Second World War and was used as a base for Search and Rescue airships that would look for crews of American transport planes which had to ditch off the coast of Brazil or in the jungle. They also flew anti-submarine patrols. The whole airfield is now a permanent museum. Most of the old relics lying around the airfield have old rusty signs offering descriptions of those times. The guy(s) who took the pictures 56 years previously obviously had the same idea as me and captured the whole experience of being posted there. The work, locals, social life etc. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Amapa1945.jpg It is amazing to think that some of the elderly residents of Amapa 2001 were probably little kids when these guys were stationed there. There are some great shots of the airships, aerial views and bringing supplies into Amapa jetty. So, click on the link on part one and take a look! One of the airship mooring masts was still at the airfield and we had considered using it at one point as a gantry but it was just a little bit too rusty!! Back to the TIGO story. During the last two of the six months of the operation, rumours were rife about when the operation would wind up and this caused no end of stress especially as KS and G extended their tours to see it through to the end. And the end never seemed to come! I think GPC did just the one tour and as a thank you to everyone, before he left, he sent me and Grahame around town with a shopping list for a curry he intended to make that evening - he was in bed with a hangover!! Cheers mate, I wasn’t feeling exactly brilliant myself. Managed to get most of the ingredients and set to work in Sorayas restaurant kitchen preparing a pretty good curry I think - I don't think we poisoned anybody which was the main aim :) http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...reparation.jpg Soraya was a good host to us all - the whole team - and Talita often helped around the place. She was a lovely woman and was quite willing to sit with us and "chat" and was patient enough to help us along with our dire Portuguese :). http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...apa/Talita.jpg And the first two words I learnt? - Sandwich (luckily it was sandwich) and Kayjo (Cheese) That meant we could order a morning snack at the airfield terminal café, as imitating a cheese sandwich with sign language was too difficult to say the least. Then "Obrigado" and all those sorts of words to say hello, goodbye and how are you. Phrases to chat up girls were not a priority in the early days - eating was! http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...Phrasebook.jpg Thanks, mainly to the lovely Sylvia, one of the Aeroleo dispatchers, I managed to increase my knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese considerably by the end of the three months which made things so much easier and more fun. I could talk to the girls :) http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...viaandcrab.jpg Every weekend, from Friday evening to the early hours of Monday morning, the town seemed to go into party mode with fiestas in the stadium........... http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...apa/Fiesta.jpg ...............and late night dancing and drinking in the nightclub. Huge distorted speakers if I remember rightly. It was impossible to keep up with the locals though as we had to be up at 5.30 most mornings and they would just be going to bed - the night clubbing having started at 2am!! Although that didn’t stop KS once or twice! We could only really go partying on a Saturday night if there was no flying on Sunday. As you could see in the town pics, apart from the things that would take a lump out of you the town felt relatively safe with no crime we were aware of and small kids seemed to wander the streets quite happily and safely. Of course we were a fascination to the children as we are anywhere in the world whether it be Malaysia or Nigeria. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Localkids.jpg ........all probably at University now! http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...mapa/Andre.jpg I wonder what Amapa will be like if they do start exploiting vast oil reserves. The town could be swamped with outsiders. It will bring money into the town and employment I suppose but a whole host of other problems. Next time … leaving. |
TIGO in Brazil ...final part!
If any of you are still awake! As I touched on earlier, the end of the contract was seemingly a never occurring event. Also relations between Aeroleo management and Bristows seemed to be souring, possibly because Aeroleo would rather have seen the operation as a 100% Aeroleo venture, not involving Bristows. This didn’t affect the working relationship down at our level though and things were ticking over nicely. The rainy season was over and the second hole being drilled by BP was closer to shore so flight legs were shorter resulting in a shorter working day. .........and so it came for us to leave. The first going away party was at a restaurant close to the airfield. This is the one where we invited all the people from Amapa that had been good to us, helped us, and some friends we had made during our stay. We took a lot of them up for a flight in the Puma, with the cabin doors open locked open, and flew very low over the town and local countryside. Only one of them threw up which was a surprise – I was expecting more! No doubt it was the first time most of them had ever flown. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...avingparty.jpg http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...avingpart2.jpg After the flight - yet more beer, food and dancing before heading back into town. A few days later.......... The BP drilling contract came to an end approximately 12th July and five of us flew down, in three different aircraft, to the big town of Belem to attend a celebration party organized by Aeroleo. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...toaparty-1.jpg The party turned a bit sour (Aeroleo managers!) and I ended up sitting in a small park outside the Hilton Hotel with someone else (I can't remember who) watching prostitutes going about their business and drinking a few beers. We were all a little surprised at the amount of notice we were given to pack up and leave. It was to be in two days time!! Not exactly a lot of time to wind up a six month operation L The next day we flew back to Amapa in the Super Puma, taking 2hours 40 minutes, loaded it with all the spares and equipment in 3 hours and had one last night partying in town where we had to say a lot of short notice goodbyes! ............and the last night in Amapa .... Just pretty much like any other really!! But tinged with a little sadness. Me, Kev and Grahame started at Sorayas with the usual mix of locals and then we all moved into the main square, sat around a big table, chatted about endless things, the last six months, the future, drank more beer - a really good night - I wish I had taken more pictures of all of us. Perhaps I was pictured out by then. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/Franci-1.jpg This picture got me in trouble with Jan L Sorry AGAIN. It was in a really busy square with loads of us around the table …..honest! The guys back in the Bristow’s Redhill avionic workshop were impressedJ But seriously, Franci was just another nice Amaponian that became part of our social group and another nice girl to practice our bad Portuguese on J Then off to a backstreet bar we had never been to before, lots of locals, loud music and just about everyone we knew was there. (that is where the New engineer pic was taken). Just imagine a hundred more people and really loud music!! Oh, I forgot, the new Aeroleo engineer was soooo enthusiastic and flew up with us from Belem in the Tiger, again with the cabin doors open (I think Kev got claustrophobia if we closed them) and consequently made use of the sick bags most of the way. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...htengineer.jpg Unfortunately, we had an early start the next day so we couldn't stay up all night, so before we all got "falling down drunk" we said a lot of goodbyes, shook lots of hands, lots of kisses and hugs (Brazilians do this a lot). and staggered back to the hotel with mixed emotions. The next day, I went in early to prepare the helicopter for departure. Again, lots of final hugs and kisses. Their crewing handovers were unbelievable …. All very touchy feely – not like us Brits, just a stern handshake will do J We boarded TIGO for the last time and taxied out for take-off - lots of final waves - and personal feelings about a place and people I was leaving and that I would never see again. We flew down to Belem which is where I saw the last of her - my dear friend G-TIGO – the only time I have ever worked on a Super Puma on the line! http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...aparainbow.jpg Maintaining her in that environment was pretty difficult in the early months and by the time the six months were up she was definitely in need of a bit of TLC from Aberdeen Engineering. Wonder were she is now? Edmilson’s bar was the closest bar to work being only a short walk from the line office and many days we would wind down and have a couple of chilled beers before heading back to town. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Edmilsons.jpg It was a place where you could contemplate whether it would be possible to sell up everything in UK, take a roundabout journey up to northern Brazil and go missing in Amapa for the rest of your life. Slower, less complicated! Some days I still consider it now!! When the first strip of concrete was laid in the “hangar” we made our mark! Hopefully it will be there for many years, just like the relics leftover from 1945 when those US navy guys were looking after those blimps. I am trying to get in touch with the guy who took the pics 56 years before I did. http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...retememory.jpg I’ve also suggested that my son (18) one day plans a trip to find the imprint…….it would be a challenging trip to back-pack up to Amapa. At least I can recommend a good hotel to stay in….NOT! So, finally I would like to thank all the people we worked and socialised with at Amapa - "Foi bom trabalhar com voce" The End |
TIGO in Brasil post script.
"As the time progressed, those facilities although completely isolated from any human contingent beyond the outskirts of that tiny military outpost, gradually became comfortable despite shortcomings such as the lack of any recreation facilities so necessary for those isolated men." http://sixtant.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=2 Puts our discomforts at Amapa into perspective really. I guess the mooring mast shown on that site is the one we considered using! de |
Current Bristow presence in Brazil - 42% share JV with Lider
http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/...1/Lider6-1.jpg S92's and S76C++'s and growing fast. Rock on IBU! |
Upland Goose - It looks to be a 'greener' version of Bristow. Great news on the expansion.
It sounds slightly larger than the contract that involved the Bell 47 that you posted earlier.... but this one might not be quite as much fun. |
Tripoli Mitiga Airshow, Libya 2009
Operating from the military base in Tripoli, we were under strict orders to keep cameras away, and not to openly snap Military aircraft.
However, when an airshow and static display were put on, the Libyans were more than happy to show us around their kit. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...oliairshow.jpg This Libyan Air Force Pilot showed me around his Mig. I recall having a long chat with him, and him being a good guy. He shared the same interests as most of us in this industry.... fast planes, cars, bikes, and...... I think he had more than one wife. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...an/Libya17.jpg I can't help wonder what he is up to now. A normal guy (apart from the wives) caught up working for the wrong person, in the wrong place at the wrong time. A rare sight in Libya!!!...... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5..._8364006_n.jpg ..... I believe it's a Piaggio Avanti. Great undercarriage on those things! :) |
A normal guy (apart from the wives) |
TTO,
Too true! I'm sure most of us in the industry have heard, and been warned of AIDS. Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome. I've managed to avoid the 'marriage' part so far. Not sure how long I can hold out.... I will grow up one day! |
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