Another helicopter crash North Sea

codprawn · 01 April 2009, 14:01

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7977095.stm

News only just coming in - hope they are all ok and hope nobody we knew was on board. Looks like it was a super puma again.

jambo · 01 April 2009, 14:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7977095.stm

News only just coming in - hope they are all ok and hope nobody we knew was on board. Looks like it was a super puma again.

jesus!! unbelievable I thought they were grounded under investigation. Like you CP I do hope they are all ok
J

chewy · 01 April 2009, 14:22

Wasn't the Super Puma's that were grounded, it was the CG choppers.
Surely these things should be getting safer.

JSP · 01 April 2009, 14:34

Hope everyone turns up safe.

chewy · 01 April 2009, 14:36

I hope so but very much doubt it.

jambo · 01 April 2009, 15:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

I hope so but very much doubt it.

Chewy saw your colleagues from the Humber boat last night in that new progreamme about North Sea on Virgin. Seem a great buch of guys excellent programme, shame about the conclusion to their search.
J

chewy · 01 April 2009, 16:13

Haven't seen it yet as I'm away at the moment.
I think a new member on here is actually crew on Humbers boat.

Looks like 8 dead so far although unconfirmed.

10 bodies now recovered.

Cornish 2 · 01 April 2009, 18:36

I work in the Norwegian sector, only a couple of weeks ago I heard they were scrapping the new 92's and going back to the Super Puma. The 92's continue to have electrical faults as they first did when it first came into service.
I think the Puma that crashed today was a differnt type to the one that crashed last month in the UK.
The safest flight I did, was the 3 minute flight out of Blackpool to the rigs. They were confident that the trips were so short and therefore safer, that they only had one pilot......

SDGANDER · 01 April 2009, 19:16

Quote:

I think a new member on here is actually crew on Humbers boat.

I am... but not really new here and have been on the Humber boat since Oct 2007.

I also hold a commercial pilots licence on helicopters so this is rather 'close to home'...

SDG

chewy · 01 April 2009, 19:23

Sorry Gander thought you were newish, my mistake.

As for flights from Blackpool with CHC Scotia, dodgy as fook. Gaps in doors that rain and hail came through, door handles falling off the boot, lap belts not 4 point harness's, cowls missing off undersides exposing alsorts.
The short flight was great but that was it, I used to shuttle between platforms and you can rack up a years worth of flying in one trip!

SDGANDER · 01 April 2009, 19:29

Nah, I'm oldish!

We've a new guy who's been here about 6 months though - he features in the next episode of the delightful new series on Virgin 1

Shaun.

JSP · 01 April 2009, 22:04

Sorry to take this very sad thread off topic for a second.

Do either of you two lads remember a police dog handler that used to go to the RIG's in the irish sea to check for drugs? Brian was his name,

chewy · 02 April 2009, 05:56

Bit of a contradiction there John, do you remember and drugs.

I belive when the platform was in the construction stages it was owned by British Gas then a government owned company. The government then sent the unemployed out to build the platform a few of which sat about and got wasted for two weeks.

I've never heard of sniffer dogs offshore but you sometimes see them in the heliports.

JSP · 02 April 2009, 10:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

Bit of a contradiction there John, do you remember and drugs.

I belive when the platform was in the construction stages it was owned by British Gas then a government owned company. The government then sent the unemployed out to build the platform a few of which sat about and got wasted for two weeks.

I've never heard of sniffer dogs offshore but you sometimes see them in the heliports.

No he did use to take the dogs in the helicopter, I've seen photos', poor bloody dogs look depressed enough to jump out! He was one of the UK's top dog trainers and just before cancer got hold of him, he was offered a Job to go and train the Indian police how to train there dogs. He was a grand lad.

Anyway, sorry for going off.
I see they are now treating it as a recovery operation. * bodies found but there was 16 on board? Things will have to change

chewy · 02 April 2009, 13:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSP

No he did use to take the dogs in the helicopter, I've seen photos', poor bloody dogs look depressed enough to jump out! He was one of the UK's top dog trainers and just before cancer got hold of him, he was offered a Job to go and train the Indian police how to train there dogs. He was a grand lad.

Anyway, sorry for going off.
I see they are now treating it as a recovery operation. * bodies found but there was 16 on board? Things will have to change

Everybody looks sick and depressed going offshore!

Things will have to change but I doubt they will.
I was at the safety meeting for the Centrica chopper that went down. The Centrica safety lad said the PLB's went off fine and alerted the rig and CG. One worker raised his hand and said where did you get your information. Safety lad produces graphs and what not showing time of impact and when the PLB's were activated.
The worker said they were wrong, when asked how he knew he told him "I set the alarm off"
He witnessed it and set it off from the control room yet the HSE still argue he didn't.
Another PLB went off the next day but was ignored as a false alarm... one person is still missing from that crash.

JSP · 02 April 2009, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

Everybody looks sick and depressed going offshore!

Things will have to change but I doubt they will.
I was at the safety meeting for the Centrica chopper that went down. The Centrica safety lad said the PLB's went off fine and alerted the rig and CG. One worker raised his hand and said where did you get your information. Safety lad produces graphs and what not showing time of impact and when the PLB's were activated.
The worker said they were wrong, when asked how he knew he told him "I set the alarm off"
He witnessed it and set it off from the control room yet the HSE still argue he didn't.
Another PLB went off the next day but was ignored as a false alarm... one person is still missing from that crash.

codprawn · 02 April 2009, 18:20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7979475.stm

Fifteen named so far - one of the worst helicopter tradgedies of recent times.

My heart goes out to all concerned!!!

chewy · 02 April 2009, 18:34

It'll bight them in the arse shortly as there is no real benefit to working offshore now. The pay is the same onshore and you don't have to share a room with a stranger who snores.

iandl · 02 April 2009, 19:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

The pay is the same onshore and you don't have to share a room with a stranger who snores.

or farts .....even worse when you have to share a hotel room with a stranger and he comes in drunk at 3 am and you have an early checkin.

sad news indeed ....agree with chewy ...it'll bite them soon ...we have just laid off another 40 .....thats 300 men made redundant this year so far ...and not a word of it anywhere.

I can imagine a sombre feeling at the heliports

came home last week ......hit an airpocket and dropped about 300 ft .....that woke everyone on the flight ....white faces all round....been a long time since we hit one of those.

I

chewy · 02 April 2009, 19:35

Woodgroup tried that with me about sharing rooms the night before checkin. Its my time until I checkin and no way was I sharing with a drunken git who might piss in my kit bag. I used to ring up before I got the train to make sure I was in a single room.
What platform are you on Ian?

The oil companies and agencies need to realise the risks and pay the workers accordinly.

Its all statistics I'm afraid. A gas leak on the Central platform made it statistically unsafe and made shuttling safer even though you were doing a minimum of 28 flights per trip. One chopper goes down and kills everyone and that makes the Central platform safer and shuttling more dangerous.

I honestly believe it won't be long until another major incident occurs on a North Sea rig or platform.