Schiehallion FPSO Crew Change - 110 miles West of Shetland

[CharlieOneSix]

Ah, memories - thankfully now long in the past!

FPSO : A Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) installation is a floating facility, usually based on a (converted) oil tanker hull. It is equipped with hydrocarbon processing equipment for separation and treatment of crude oil, water and gases, arriving on board from sub-sea oil wells via flexible pipelines.
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[CremeEgg]

The weather looked pretty benign to me but the looks on the blokes faces waiting to get off suggested to me they were either massively disinterested in being filmed or they had had a wild ride over and were probably wondering how to clean up the insides of their immersion suits.

[G-CPTN]

Remarkable discipline - nobody jumped the gun by getting off early.

[CharlieOneSix]

Remarkable discipline - nobody jumped the gun by getting off early.

There's an extensive video brief before every flight so they see that every two weeks. Also the Helicopter Landing Officer wouldn't take kindly to any nonsense like getting off early. Anyone doing that wouldn't do it twice!!

The two baggage loaders/unloaders/chock guys also ensure nobody walks round the tail area. The deckside fire cannons are also manned at all times during helicopter operations. One pilot always gets out on deck as well unless the turbulence over the deck is excessive or pitch/roll/heave* on a semi-submerible rig or ship are on limits. He has to oversee the drawing of the fuel samples at the fuel installation and check that the water capsules in the fuel samples are clear both before and after refuelling. Most importantly he makes sure the crew's bacon rolls and coffee arrive from the galley.

* Varies according to helicopter type - my last one's limits were a maximum deck movement of 5 degrees pitch, 5 degrees roll and 5 metres heave, and a maximum wind over the deck of 60kts.

[Sisemen]

Don’t think I’d fancy being stuck on that thing for weeks at a time at the mercy of the North Atlantic.

[G-CPTN]

Don’t think I’d fancy being stuck on that thing for weeks at a time at the mercy of the North Atlantic.

Here's a video of life on the ocean wave:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os4afl1yRwg

[Sisemen]

Can handle that - it’s firmly bolted to terra firma The bouncy ones - no

[CharlieOneSix]

Good video CPTN - things have obviously changed since my time almost 20 years ago. Then it was 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. From the video it's now 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off. I didn't mind a two week detachment offshore - not sure about 3 weeks though.

Sisemen - the thing I didn't like about fixed platforms was the way they would shudder and sway in a storm as the wind and waves hit the structure. It seemed such an unnatural movement. Being ex-RN I had no problem with ships and semi-submersible rigs.
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Borgholm Dolphin is a self propelled, accommodation platform which offers living quarters for 274 personnel, housed in double berth cabins.

[Cacophonix]

Remarkable discipline - nobody jumped the gun by getting off early.

There's an extensive video brief before every flight so they see that every two weeks. Also the Helicopter Landing Officer wouldn't take kindly to any nonsense like getting off early. Anyone doing that wouldn't do it twice!!

The two baggage loaders/unloaders/chock guys also ensure nobody walks round the tail area. The deckside fire cannons are also manned at all times during helicopter operations. One pilot always gets out on deck as well unless the turbulence over the deck is excessive or pitch/roll/heave* on a semi-submerible rig or ship are on limits. He has to oversee the drawing of the fuel samples at the fuel installation and check that the water capsules in the fuel samples are clear both before and after refuelling. Most importantly he makes sure the crew's bacon rolls and coffee arrive from the galley.

* Varies according to helicopter type - my last one's limits were a maximum deck movement of 5 degrees pitch, 5 degrees roll and 5 metres heave, and a maximum wind over the deck of 60kts.

What's the difference between roll and heave C16? Excuse my ignorance.

Caco

[CharlieOneSix]

Pitch and roll of the vessel is just the same as in an aircraft. Heave is a purely vertical movement of the whole vessel. The best way to land with a 5 metre heave is to catch the deck at its apex, just as its about to start going down. Not a good idea to be going down as the deck is coming up! You just have to be patient and choose the lull.....
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[Cacophonix]

Pitch and roll of the vessel is just the same as in an aircraft. Heave is a purely vertical movement of the whole vessel. The best way to land with a 5 metre heave is to catch the deck at its apex, just as its about to start going down. Not a good idea to be going down as the deck is coming up! You just have to be patient and choose the lull.....

Thanks for that explanation C16. I now appreciate the skill to be able to put an aircraft down in such conditions.

Five metres is a big drop as you say. I remember reading about a US helicopter recue crew who had bingo fuel with a 35 metre swell running and the Captain decided to do a controlled ditching. He had to effectively hover 100 feet above the troughs and avoid the incoming crests and advise the crew when to jump in order to land on the crests of the incoming wave. One guy got it wrong and fell +- 100 feet into the trough. He survived with serious bruising and some internal bleeding.

Caco

[Sisemen]

Aeroplanes and terra firma for me - watery stuff for nutters!

[G-CPTN]

Another video about life on a platform - this one is Norwegian, but it seems that everyone can speak excellent English - humiliating really:-

[G-CPTN]

No aviation content, but a vessel designed to operate in the environment usually executed by helicopter:-

[Smeagol]

The advent of offshore windfarms and the increase in unmanned oil & gas platforms has increased the requirement for walk-to-work systems. Many offshore windfarms now have SOVs (Service and Operations Vessels) permanently in field to support maintenance and operations. Up to 40 technicians living on the vessel for two week shifts in addition to the marine crews. Latest W2W systems are supposed to be able to operate in seas of up to 5m significant, which is quite considerable.

Constructing offshore windfarms occupied much of the last 10 years of my working life plus the odd bit of oil & gas work just to keep my hand in!