Thanksgiving Service for Chris
 

The service yesterday for Chris was very emotional for the large number of people who attended. Personal memories were shared by a number of his close friends who all mentioned his wonderful qualities - kindness, wit, graciousness, a true gentleman to mention only a few. His wife Sara gave a very intimate eulogy filled with love, warmth and humour. The choice of music was wonderful - Bouree by Jethro Tull, Time by Hootie and the Blowfish and as Chris made his final farewell - True Companion by Marc Cohn. At that point I don't think there was a dry eye in the congregation.
God Bless Chris, and a safe journey.

Hi All,
Please be advised that there is a collection being taken up for the families of Chris and Luis. Please be generous if you can, as the families are both in very great need financially having no life insurance policies to fall back on. The collection is being coordinated by one of our pilots, Mike McLeod. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or on his mobile at +971-50-3335964. He has the bank details for the two wives, Sara and Katty, which he can provide so you can send directly to the families.
Thank you very much, your assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Rob

CRIPES ....

Are you telling us that Aerogulf carries NO life insurance policies at all (as part of their employment package) for any of their workforce?

:eek:

Agree with Spinwing
 

Rob,

Spinwing beat me to it.

Confirm that this isn't true in this day & age! Even in the Gulf!

Trog

I would like to thank Aerogulf for the time I spent there (2002 - 2004). My condolences to all family members. Thanks Chris for giving me the chance to fly for you.

No life insurance at Aerogulf? That does not surprise me and I am sure the owners of Aerogulf don't care at all..... I am so glad I don't have to put up with UAE nationals anymore...:yuk:

Spin/Trog:
Unfortunately it is even worse than just no life insurance. It was a bit of a shock for us all to learn that the Crew Personal Accident insurance (PA) is only a 3 or 4 month lifeline at best, and there was no workman’s compensation provision. Next month when the insurance coverage is to be renewed, we hope we can get approval to get the Crew PA increased by five fold, add a separate high-dollar PA with premiums payable by the company, and get a corporate policy set up to allow corporate rates for those of us who want life insurance that can be kept ongoing after we leave the company. Unfortunately these are all too late for the families of those we lost, so we are digging deep into our own pockets and hope others who can will do the same for them. For anyone out there that has been as blind as we have been not to ask your employer about insurance coverage, now is the time to do it!! Sometimes the mindset of doing everything with ‘safety’ at the forefront and having a long track record without any accidents can give a false sense of security that ‘it will never happen here.’ We learned the hard way, and as I said earlier, if it could happen to these two pilots, it could have happened to any of us.

Bitmonx:
Hi Andre! Thanks for the condolences, I will pass those on to the wives. Glad to hear you are ‘back in the business,’ and hope all is going well for you in Canada. Drop us a PM and let us know how you are doing.

Rob

Thanks Rob
 

Rob,

Really sorry to hear about your situation! There are probably lots of people in our Industry who need to do some serious checking to see how much cover they really have.

I was absolutely appalled at the level of cover provided by Air Logistics International Ops prior to the "Bristowisation" - it really was not much better than your present situation yet happily (possibly dumbly!) accepted by all.

Trog

Mmmmm ....

Rob,

Am I also to surmise then that there will also be NO ex-gratia payment to the grieving families by Aerogulf Services particularly in view of the time of year (Ramadan) if for no other reason than to help them recover and resettle?

Oh silly me ..... I have been working in Gulf for so long now you'd think I already know the answer :mad: to that one!

:sad:

Thanks for that Spinwing
Im sure Rob does not have enough pressure on him as it is, taking control of the company unwillingly and all when he least expected, and doing his best with what he has to work with.
It is not a simple situation here for our new management. Im sure that all will do their best to help the families involved

If I might help out here. I have tried emailing and calling the number given here to offer some assistance but no response yet.

I would like to offer some space in Mid East Flyer magazine to appeal for help in supporting Chris and Luis' families. I spoke to Chris only hours before his last flight and we had arranged to meet up the following week to chat about the Heli Dubai show. I well understand the emotions of such a sudden loss having been through it myself.

If anyone at Aerogulf would like to contact me, email is: john @ meflyer . com

Spinwing:
At our level we have made it our absolute highest priority to do everything that we can to get the greatest possible support for the families. We have a list of requests and a number of presenters to show the Board members the serious needs of our families that have lost the futures they had been planning for. They are in desperate need, and we will do whatever we can to help.

Kflexer:
Thanks tremendously for your support, and thanks to all those at Aerogulf who have come together during our worst nightmare. It is difficult for all of us, and it has been amazing to see people work so closely together to help the families and help each other through something we would never have thought possible just a few weeks ago.

John Miller:
Thank you very much for the offer. The wives have said today that they do not wish to accept charity, but their needs are so great to help their children through this devastating event, they have no choice but to accept whatever assistance they can find. We will be grateful for any support you can provide in bringing their situation to those that may be able to help. I’ll send you an e-mail.

Given the tragic circumstances and the fact that no personal life cover was in place and that the company cover is apparently inadequate would it not be worthwhile asking Dubai Petroleum Company, Dugas, Conoco & the numerous other companies that AGS supported over the years for a contirbution? Just a thought as I know there will be a limit as to how much an individual may be able to contribute and at the end of the day it may well be an insufficient amount. As if this tragedy is not enough it is pretty heartwrenching to see the families in such a situation. Perhaps you have these companies on your list of request 21stcentury. AGS does have some responsibility to provide something to the families which I understand has been done but the individual also has a responsibility to their family - a bad situation all round and one we should perhaps take a lesson from. We are not six foot six & bulletproof and history shows us that the fickle finger of fate is no respector of experience.

All the best at this difficult time. No one envies you. Keep up the good work.

Monkou ....

Hear Hear .... very well said.

:D

Rob,

As Aerogulf has been doing a grand job of promoting Dubai for over 30 years, I hope you have sent a personal letter to "Brand Dubai" himself......:ok:

OK, this may be a little cold, but all this hindsight concern for no life insurance benefits sounds too contrived. Lots of pilots here work as self-employed contractors, or they work for a variety of operators, most of which pay well for work done, and don't pay anything when the collective isn't off the stop. If a pilot is concerned about the welfare of his family should he depart, he takes out his own life insurance policy, if he's concerned about health, his own health insurance, etc, etc, etc. If he wants to roll the dice for himself and his family, he can just stuff the whole pay envelope into his pocket, where he also keeps his good luck charms.

Its a free world, as pilots seeking employment you can choose where you work and match the benefits to your tolerance for risk. Or pay for your own peace of mind, or not. Why wait until a tragedy occurs, then lament the lack of benefits that everyone already knew was not there when they went in?

Benefits cost money, either to the employee to cover himself, or to the employer to provide. What if Aerogulf gave everyone the shopping cart option on benefits, and then the pilots could chose to trade earnings for different benefit levels. How would that be any different than the situation now?

malabo ...

There are a few extra wrinkles to the situation here to do with Sharia law and the distribution of the family assets after death ...

Wills here have to be probated through a sharia court in order to clear assets in the UAE and that can take time. Bank accounts are frozen all sorts of aggro can occur.

It all puts a family resident here under unecessary stress.

Of course this is rarely found out about untill its too late!

:(

The missis was under strict instructions to use the ATM card before she reported anything... :)

Phil

Mmmmmm ....

Well advised .......

Chris Brown - Aerogulf
 

I just found out today about the crash where Chris lost his life and, I'm speechless and horribly saddened. I'm in tears right now.

Chris Brown was a wonderful man and an AWESOME pilot. His love of flying was only equaled to his love of fishing. As someone stated previously, he was so very kind-hearted. Definately a pilot's pilot. I used to tell people that he could fly circles around a dime. I simply can not believe that this has happened. He was just SOOOO GOOD at flying. He was THE BEST!

My deepest and most sincere condolences go out to his wife Sara. She had the opportunity of sharing many good years with a great guy. Sara, find comfort in knowing that one day, you and Chris will be together again in the House of Our Heavenly Father.

RIP Chris - you did it your way, papi!

Accident report ?
 

Today is the second anniversary of this crash.

Has an accident report ever been published ?
Was an investigation carried out ?

Final Report
 

An O ring beat me to it but here it is again.......

http://www.gcaa.ae/en/ePublication/a...-%20A6-ALV.pdf

I don't believe for a minute that Chris B. would have allowed the a/c to move that far aft, the crane they hit was 50m behind them!

RIP Chris, it was a pleasure working with you.

Mmmmm ....


And I ... would have to agree with the above post .... the Chris Brown I knew would NEVER have let it go 5' backwards let alone 50m.


:= := :=

How convenient......... pilot error (no national in the front on this one) :{

From what I know of these parts.... :mad:

May they Rest In Peace.. Pilot mistakes are always possible no matter how good a pilot is..

"Pilot mistakes are always possible no matter how good a pilot is.. "

True, but highly unlikely in this case, and let's not forget Luis, who, apart from being a nice guy was also a Mr Safety. If it was anything like that, it would rather be "the Human Factor" than "Pilot Error".

Uncommanded cyclic movements due to failed tarsyns are not impossible, neither are failed artificial horizons, and this is no reflection on the maintenance dept at Aerogulf, who are second to none, IMHO. They do an outstanding job.

Phil

Surely old 212s offshore at night is not smart.

Sox,

You said it brother....:D

A very nearby operator used to send un-stabilised 212's offshore at night :eek:

FcUking bean counters :ugh:

But Aerogulf are a Shell approved operator with the necessary Safety Case and SMS!

Mmmm ......



....A very nearby operator used to send un-stabilised 212's offshore at night ...


Any one I would know ?? :*

I'm guessing SASless would know........;)

How does this relate to the accident in question? During the hover and take-off phase the 212 is as stable as most types out there, I'd say. Or, are you suggesting the risk of a pitch trim actuator runaway is greater on am old type?

212man:- It certainly is an aging airframe which must make the chance of a system failure greater. I take it Aerogulf would not be doing routine night flights with passengers in 212s.

Smell Management:- I very much doubt Shell would use Aerogulf or that they had the sort of safety management of a 'major' helicopter operator. From what I recall at the time even life insurance wasn't apparently in place.

Mmmm ....

Actually .... that is exactly what Griffo and myself were alluding too .... that in fact UAE operators WERE sending 212s regularly offshore at night! (and some were unstabilised VFR machines AND in the UAE there is NO such thing as NGT VFR ... sort off!).

Happily Aerogulf are now about to put AW139s into service and the other operator has seen the light and no longer uses the 212 offshore (much!).


:eek:

Ah! Night flights in an unstabalized 212. Single pilot with an engineer along for the ride. Taking off and landing in the Zakum field with the engineer holding the log book to shield your eyes from the flares. Ah - the good old days.

js0,

That would be the good old day's when there was never a recorded over torque on winch moves, single pilot...:E

Funny, when we went 2 crew, there were many...:{

Thanks for posting the report.
The fact that they did one at all is a positive step.

"Surely old 212s offshore at night is not smart"

I've flown a lot worse at night, landing on crossed headlights and all.... I don't see much wrong with using the 212 for that, if the rest of the system is OK - at least the tail doesn't fall off. And, of course, if there is no evidence of equipment failure, it can't be included in the report.

Just to set the record straight, Aerogulf tried to get the customer concerned to use the 412 in 1993, and Bell even loaned them the machine for the demo, but the customer simply didn't want to pay for it. Now, of course, they're very happy to upgrade. Funny that. And to put things in perspective, I believe that was their only loss in over 30 years of operation - better than an airline, I think.

Phil

Yes, I agree with Phil - there is nothing intrinsically bad about flying a 212 at night. Other concerns that may exist are equally valid in daytime too. The 212 is a damn sight easier to fly offshore landings and takeoffs than the 76, for example!

Off topic, but they use a strange set of ATA numbers when referring to the deferred defects - anyone know why? AFCS should be ATA-22 and GPS should be ATA-34, surely?