A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

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CharlieOneSix
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A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#1 Post by CharlieOneSix »

If you have ever wondered about the life of a new copilot flying North Sea helicopters for Bristow from Aberdeen then you should find this excellent video of interest.......
The helicopter pilots' mantra: If it hasn't gone wrong then it's just about to...
https://www.glenbervie-weather.org
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#2 Post by FD2 »

Great video C16 - thanks for posting.
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#3 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Excellent narrator. Off the.cuff and without hesitation. Good content. Would certainly look at another of his videos. Sorry guys but not the job for me. No way.

Thanks C16.
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#4 Post by Rwy in Sight »

Too much hand flying or you just love big airports and a crew to generate interesting stories
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#5 Post by Ex-Ascot »

Don't mind hand flying that is a bonus. As for airports I hate them. But for starters did you see that crew breakfast? And, he thought that it was a treat. Then there is the flying attire. No girlies to serve you, 5☆ hotels, beaches in the sun, pool bars, time to read a newspaper in the cruise or indeed nrwspapers, crew party suites, fine dining out all around the world and so it goes on. No, no, no.
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#6 Post by CharlieOneSix »

Rwy in Sight wrote:
Mon Feb 03, 2025 1:22 pm
Too much hand flying or you just love big airports and a crew to generate interesting stories
The S-92 has a four-axis duplicated autopilot with all the sophistication found in modern fixed wing. Only hand flying - on North Sea ops anyway - is the take off and landing.

Re the breakfast, that was a good standard! One of the qualifications required of a North Sea helicopter pilot is the ability to eat cold bacon rolls and cold coffee provided by the offshore destination during a rotors running turn round.
The helicopter pilots' mantra: If it hasn't gone wrong then it's just about to...
https://www.glenbervie-weather.org
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#7 Post by Ex-Ascot »

OK, apart from many, I am sure, challenges and I hope good money what is the attraction?
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#8 Post by CharlieOneSix »

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2025 12:48 pm
OK, apart from many, I am sure, challenges and I hope good money what is the attraction?
I never planned to be in Aberdeen on North Sea ops. The helicopter company I worked for in Sussex was bought by British Caledonian in 1979 and in under a year the choice was move to Aberdeen or be made redundant as they were closing the Sussex base. At that time there were almost no jobs in southern England. That move cost me a marriage as my BCAL hostie wife wouldn't move because she loved her job more than me and I had no choice but to go. Having previously worked as personal pilot to a property millionaire - a 24 hour a day awful dogsbody job - I then pootled around the UK in VFR helicopters before BCAL came along. Not fun phoning the Chairman of some multi-national company at 0600 and telling him I can't take him because the enroute cloud base was too low - they never understood.

So to the attractions which unfolded once I was up in Scotland.....BCAL Helicopters - a brilliant company to work for, a stable roster, a fully IFR helicopter, better pay than almost anywhere else in the UK, the attraction of the Scottish countryside plus roads that weren't crammed with vehicles. The downside is the weather but after 45 years here I'm just about used to that!
The helicopter pilots' mantra: If it hasn't gone wrong then it's just about to...
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#9 Post by FD2 »

The CAA in its wisdom accepted an 1179 test on the Sea King plus logbook evidence of flying hours as acceptable for issuing an ATPL (H) for the S61N. The North Sea boom was at its height in 1977 when I left the Navy and three tours on Wessex and Sea Kings had made me a helicopter pilot, with no wish to return to fixed wing (which we had initially trained on at the elementary stage). Two immediate routes were available - Bristow, organised in a slightly military way back then - or British Airways Helicopters. I chose the latter and it was generally well run with a few perks which filtered down to us from Mainline. They had the union bug pretty badly though and it could sometimes become a great moan fest in the crewroom on foggy days when the haar grounded us.

After 6 years there was a redundancy programme announced and I jumped ship and after some time in Nigeria, to teach me a lesson not to make hasty decisions, I was lucky enough to be taken on by BCal Helicopters at Dyce - excellent team of people and a great work ethic, far removed from the atmosphere at BAH! Lots of the pilots of the three or four companies at Dyce were busy building fixed wing hours and they then departed for pastures new down south. They overcame the condescending attitudes of the fixed wing companies they joined and many ended up in command of 777s, 747s and in one case Concorde.

Being based in a great area of the UK and the children getting an excellent education at public expense made up for the chillier weather and the flying could be exacting and challenging at times but also rewarding. Moving down south ourselves and my working with KLM Helicopters at Norwich made the jump to the sort of fully IFR aircraft that C16 mentions above and when the TAF turned out to be different to the actual it was reassuring to be flying an aircraft that would take us down the ILS and level at 50ft and 50 knots down the centreline. Local knowledge made us skeptical of the forecasts issued from the new met office after they moved to Exeter. Finally Bristow won our major contract with Shell and several of us moved over to Bristow flying a more basic version of the S76 than KLM's. A great bunch of people with another excellent work ethic to finish rotary flying times.
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#10 Post by FD2 »

Attractions? Doing the sort of flying one enjoys, part of a good team and being part of an important element of the UK's history which may finally be being killed off by the incumbent Government in its quest for nirvana.

Excellent grub - not. Flying in stinky, sweaty rubber suits - not.

Good friends - certainly!
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#11 Post by Boac »

Add to those the immense satisfaction of doing a difficult job well?
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#12 Post by FD2 »

Definitely. Though in my case I didn't enjoy the VBCs and IBCs, but needs must and being put through the hoop every 6 months was needed for recurrence. Some seemed to enjoy it though...

We had a 'pink and fluffy' perfumed co-pilot in Bristow who had a novel approach - foggy mornings she would get all the loafing pilots to answer her base check questionnaire for her. I was mean enough just to point her in the direction of the appropriate publication which she would then pretend to get lost in. It passed the time watching her in action though and her original methods impressed the trainers.
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#13 Post by CharlieOneSix »

Definite immense satisfaction especially on those dark icy winter nights when everything had to come together. I didn’t enjoy IBCs either but VBCs were good fun. Even if I had been under the maximum age to jump ship to the airlines in the 1980s I wouldn’t have done that - it never appealed to me.
The helicopter pilots' mantra: If it hasn't gone wrong then it's just about to...
https://www.glenbervie-weather.org
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Re: A new Bristow copilot and his Youtube channel

#14 Post by G~Man »

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Mon Feb 03, 2025 2:16 pm
No girlies to serve you, 5☆ hotels, beaches in the sun, pool bars, time to read a newspaper in the cruise or indeed nrwspapers, crew party suites, fine dining out all around the world and so it goes on. No, no, no.
I like your style---we can be friends...... B-) B-) B-)
B-) Life may not be the party you hoped for, but while you're here, you may as well dance. B-)
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