ANDREW GRAHAM

Andrew Graham graduated from Bristow Academy in 2006. He now works for Bristow Aberdeen Scotland.

I went to Bristow Academy straight after leaving school in 2005, where I went through the combined JAA/FAA integrated course. In 2006, after completing my CFI and FAA Instrument ratings, I was hired as a CFI and later as a FI on the JAA Program. In early 2007 I returned back to Ireland where I worked for a number of months gaining turbine experience. I went to do the  JAA Instrument rating with Bristow in Norwich before being employed by Bristow in late 2007.

I am now based out of Aberdeen flying the AS332L (Bristow Tiger). The job involves flying in support of the Oil and Gas Industry in the North Sea.  We transport passengers and freight to oil rigs and vessels offshore, sometimes at night, and in the kind of severe weather conditions that can be expected during winter on the North Sea. I love flying the Super Puma, its sheer size and power were initially a big change from the smaller piston & Turbine helicopters I had flown before joining Bristow.

ROGER KITTON

A day in the life of a North Sea helicopter pilot

Roger Kitton graduated from Bristow Academy in November 2005.  He now works for Bristow operations in the North Sea based out of Aberdeen.  Below he describes a typical day in the life of a North Sea pilot.

Its 19:00 on a Wednesday evening, time to call the tape!  This is always an interesting moment, who will I be flying with tomorrow? Where will we be going? Will we be standby crew? Time to find out.  The tape revels “Clark and Kitton 11:45 Ocean Traveller and 15:35 Prospectus”.  As I settle down for the evening, my mind is already thinking about the following day, two flights, the first a Semi-sub, a partially submerged platform tethered to the seabed and subject to sea swell, the second a fixed platform and much more stable.

I arrive in Operations an hour before our first departure time.  There’s a lot to do in this time, get the on-shore/off-shore weather, determine the route winds, offer a payload to the client based on flight time, fuel requirements, weather conditions and diversion considerations.  Once the payload is offered there are a few moments to grab an ‘on the move’ coffee and don your flight suit, the sea is an icy 4º so emersion suits are also required, a water tight overall that gives you the feeling of being shrink-wrapped!  The telephone rings, and someone shouts out “crew for Mike India” this will be traffic with our payload figures, 18 passengers, 400lbs baggage, 50lbs freight.  We’re almost set to go; I check the NOTAMS while the Captain configures the IHUMS card, an SD card downloaded after every flight to give Engineering advanced warning of any aircraft component deterioration or tolerance shift. We check with the Rig that their pitch, roll and heave figures are all within limits for the Puma L1, aka ‘Bristow Tiger’.  Limits of 3º either side in pitch and roll, and 5m of heave, this might not seem much but when you’re sat on the deck and close to these limits it’s more than enough!  Having a small undercarriage footprint can make the Tiger susceptible to tipping in extreme conditions!

Flight board in hand and life jacket donned I walk out to the aircraft and begin the pre-flight whilst the Captain reviews the Tech logs.  Apart from the forecast rain things were going well, line had already fuelled the aircraft to our requirements and traffic informed us that our passengers were ready to embark, all is running smoothly.  Fifteen minutes later we’re on the Hotspot and counting the passengers onboard, the manifest is passed to me through the cockpit window by a cheerful if not slightly windblown ramp attendant, final pre-flight checks are made and I call Aberdeen ground for departure.

We were several items into the after takeoff checks when we punched into cloud, I glanced at the altimeter, 700ft, IMC from here on in I thought.  Generally outbound flights are flown at 3000ft, inbound at 2000ft, and radar coverage is available out to 80 miles servicing a modified RAS, after 80 miles it’s a FIS with diligent position reporting!

Once safely up in the cruise and on track I, as the non handling pilot, begin to cross-check our planned fuel and wind calculations.  This is the point where we evaluate our planning against the actual flight conditions, is the fuel sufficient, is the wind speed and direction as expected?  With 50 miles to run I call the Rig on their log frequency, giving them our ETA and requesting their weather, routing and return payload figures.  Their weather reads 220/40kts, 8/8@700ft and 5km.  Looking at the rig profile sheet we determine that the landing will be a left seat landing, my landing.  As we pass 80 miles we’re handed over to Information and we begin to discuss our descent and approach options.  We’re still IMC and the cloud ceiling is 700ft, offshore destinations have various navigation options but unfortunately an ILS isn’t one of them!  We take the decision and opt for an Airborne Radar Approach (ARA), I call the Rig and ask them to turn on their ND beacon, several seconds later the needle spins into life and we have our target, after ident of course!  I next hand the ‘flight watch’ over to the Rig who offer a local aircraft advisory service, and say goodbye to Aberdeen and our FIS!  The GPS counts down to our target as we complete the approach checks and at zero we see the needle reciprocate, right we’re overhead says the Captain, we check and the radar confirms there’s nothing to affect our continued flight path, after 4 miles we turn and intercept our inbound track.  As we turn and track towards the rig their image appears on the radar and I verbalise heading, speed and closing range information.  At 700ft we break out and VMC is maintained, “I have visual” is the call and control is passed over.  We conclude the remaining checks and call the Rig for deck availability.  As we descend towards the deck the movement of the installation becomes evident, no feathering this landing the Captain says with a smile and a swift manoeuvre is made.

Before the inbound passengers board I jump out and give the aircraft a check over, the movement of the deck along with the sea spray is a subtle reminder of the harsh environment we operate in, I momentarily think back to my time at Bristow Academy, boy did they know their stuff! 

A quick refuel and I’m back at the controls briefing the Captain for my departure profile.  Now safely back in the cruise I concentrate on flying the aircraft leaving the paperwork and radios to the Captain.  As we approach the coast the local weather has improved considerably and we opt for a VFR approach not above 1000ft.  The coastline and distant Cairngorm Mountains made for a stunning view and we both lamented “not a bad office window ay!”

As we taxied onto the Bristow ramp, Operations called up “rotors running turnaround” that’s good I thought, should be home in time for tea.  I wonder what the tape will bring tomorrow..!