As someone soon to be at the "ab initio" stage of CPL(H)/IR could you please point me in the vague direction where pilots are lacking?

You will get a type rating as a new FO on the north sea at the moment, also other job adverts for FOs being advertised without the requirement of a type rating.

Bristow are offering an IR sponsorship that may be of interest to you.

Lots of onshore jobs have been vacant for a very long time, however as an ab initio these wont be suitable

I've seen the IR sponsorship but sadly I'm about two months late for that. Aside from an S92 FO position that has been advertised on Bristow's "Jobs" page since much earlier this year, I don't see any more positions being up for grabs. I'm fine with covering my own IR(H) costs, as long as I know where to send my applications to when it's done in Jan/Feb. Might not be the right thread for it but would be nice to know which bases/operators are happy to consider ab-initio FOs

PM sent apollo

O&G Offshore granting more and more waivers to cater for lack of suitable ‘ab-initio’ applicants

Because they are generally run by self-serving, greedy, backstabbing incompetents who have proved time and again that they are completely incapable of balancing a budget without sticking their fat bonuses at the top of the spreadsheet. Just look at the bonus announcements made recently at Bristow's as they re-structured. If you are walking away with millions, and you started as scum, what do you care about the devastating mess you leave behind.

Chapter 11 has just provided another tool for these people to generate more bonuses as the people doing the real work and taking all the real risks suffer through endless rounds of redundancy.

There, now I feel better with that off my chest.

DB

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "waivers"?

Good question, in the short term probably not a lot and it is likely to take years to finish the selling process.

Not sure anymore. Connoco Phillips used to have their own, and still has a FW department I think. The obvious well known one is Brunei Shell - 2 S92 pax, 2 AW139 pax and 1 S92 SAR

Don't Chevron have a financial stake in the operators in Angola?

good point about Aramco, but I guess he knew about Esso (XOM) which is what prompted the question.

I thought Chevron stopped flying in Angola, and resorted to boats, following their fatal accident 3 years ago? Maybe not.

Chevron in the GOM operates it own fleet of AW139s I believe. Chevron Angola (via its part ownership in Heli Malongo) is still flying. Total uses boats.

There would easily be a million+ flight hours combined between those two helicopter owner/operator offshore oil companies....Esso Australia has never had a helicopter accident (touch wood!), Saudi Aramco has had one major fatal that I recall. That is a remarkable safety record when compared to the accident rate of the major offshore helicopter contractors. I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn about that, but the statistics might suggest oil companies owning/operating their own helicopters has certain business advantages.

There have been many changes to the Industry since this post started, all more than adequately covered elsewhere, each deserving detailed discussion and analysis. Two recent stories, however, illustrate the systemic collapse of the valuations and demand for assets that still haven't reached their bottom, or ended in a viable transfer of ownership to a new entity. The last discussions of the future of Milestone and even the greater GECAS fleet, highlighted the impaired asset value, and I would hate to think what any of those numbers look like today, in either the Airline or Helicopter business. This announcement last week with the write-down of assets aligns very closely with the previous negotiation to sell the Organization and the interested parties' valuation of the assets. I'm not sure if this action is the portent of a sale, but it potentially seems quite possible.
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-n...nes-value-729m

GECAS Slashes Milestone's Value by $729M

by Mark Huber
- July 31, 2020, 7:58 AMThe continuing decimation of the depressed offshore helicopter market writ large anew earlier this week when GECAS wrote down the value of its Milestone Aviation helicopter leasing unit by $729 million. Milestone holds the world’s largest fleet of Sikorsky S-92 heavy helicopters, used primarily in support of the offshore energy market.

The write-down was revealed this week in GECAS parent GE’s second-quarter 2020 10Q SEC filing in the form of a goodwill impairment. It represents a 41 percent devaluation of the $1.775 billion GECAS paid to acquire Milestone in 2015.

Milestone was founded by former NetJets chief Richard Santulli in 2010 with an initial capitalization of $500 million and based in Dublin, Ireland. It would go on to draw substantial investment from global financial powerhouses, including Lloyds, Barclays, and Lombard, the asset finance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Milestone built one of the world’s largest helicopter lease fleets that over the course of its first five years grew to 168 aircraft valued at $2.8 billion. It was quickly joined in the market space by a variety of new competitors, including Waypoint Leasing, LCI Aviation, Lobo Leasing, and Macquarie Rotorcraft Leasing.

The fallout from the 2008 recession and tumbling oil prices has had a lasting overhang on the offshore helicopter business, triggering a crescendo of bankruptcies and consolidations among operators and lessors in recent years.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-n...copters-parked

One in Five S-92 Helicopters Parked

by Mark Huber
- August 3, 2020, 10:32 AMWhile the offshore helicopter market is showing signs of recovery, 39 Sikorsky S-92s, comprising 19 percent of the global market, remain parked. Among the active fleet, flying hours are down 27 percent. Those are among the findings from the most recent “S-92 Fleet Census” from Air & Sea Analytics.

The report notes that offshore helicopter services companies Babcock, Bristow, CHC, and Lider are returning aircraft to lessors against the backdrop of one-quarter of the world’s mobile offshore oil rigs being scrapped since 2015. Nevertheless, Air & Sea Analytics director Steve Robertson said, “Relative to other [oil field services] segments, we’d argue it’s [the S-92] one of the best performing over the last 12 months.” But he acknowledged that many owners and operators are “having a rough time.” The largest concentration of based S-92s continues to be in the UK, with 41, but of that number only 29 are active.

Nevertheless, glimmers of hope remain. GECAS helicopter leasing unit Milestone Aviation is adding to its S-92 fleet, already the world’s largest, and finding placements for them. The overall count of heavies and super-mediums has increased slightly, from 214 to 224, a function of increased deliveries of the latter to offshore operators. The report found that “super-medium units continue to be delivered and find work in the market.” And at least two operators, Cougar and Chevron, are increasing their super-medium fleet size.