AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#41 Post by Boac » Sat Jun 13, 2020 12:48 pm

Bojo producing a whole generation of Customs Officers then? =))

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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#42 Post by llondel » Sun Jun 14, 2020 5:24 pm

His may well be set up for the other profession that employs a lot of them: the one Boris is currently in.

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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#43 Post by fareastdriver » Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:33 pm

Talking about customs. We had an elderly lady at Aberdeen in the early eighties who would check the inbound passengers. As pilots we were never checked even though we were able to buy duty free cigarettes offshore on the basis of twenty a day. On one trip I ordered 20 but the helideck handed me a carton of 200 with their hands held out for £2.50. Not a lot I could do except pay up. On the S76A there was nowhere to put a carton so I would distribute them around the leg pockets of my flying suit. When I returned to Aberdeen I dropped the passengers off and parked it. Walking back to the line office I was stopped by said lady who informed me that I was leaving all my cigarettes behind. I looked back and there was this trail of B&H that had migrated through a hole in my starboard leg pocket. I thanked her profusely and picked them up rapidly before she changed her mind.

A year or so later I was flying a 332 form the Brae 'A' in the late evening. On arrival the rampies would unload the baggage, open the cabin door and the passengers would pick up there luggage and go through customs. It had been found that customs tended to close at 20:00 hrs owing to shortage of staff so then passengers would pick up their luggage and go straight through the terminal. This time even though it was after nine p.m. the lights were on the customs area. The pax were unloaded, we parked the aircraft and as we walked past the passenger terminal the rampies asked us who two or three large unlabelled plastic bags belonged to. We didn't know so they took them in the shed and opened them to find out who they were for.

They were packed full of cigarettes, cigars and tobacco.

Some enterprising souls , knowing that that were coming back late with a good chance of no customs had decided to stock up in a big way. Seeing the lights on in customs they had left their poly bags behind and gone through.

There was a investigation by Marathon but I do not think that anybody was nailed.

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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#44 Post by ian16th » Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:58 pm

A weak point with HM Customs is their 'naval' type uniform, with bright white shirts!

A successful method of discouraging an in depth search of the standard RAF issue tool bag was to simply apply a generous coating of grease to all of ones tools.

This prevented rust. It also seemed to discourage HMG types from in depth searches.
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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#45 Post by fareastdriver » Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:30 pm

Customs weren't all bad. In the RAF there were two Pumas that were part of the CAAP {Components Advanced Ageing Programme}. This was a programme so as to fly components like gearboxs past there overhaul life with suitable inspections so that they could be recertified for civil operation. To this end our Puma on our squadron had to fly the unheard of figure of 100 hrs./month.

You could take it anywhere as long as you burnt off the hours. Lamb from the Orkneys, kippers from Macrihanish, Aberdeen for job interviews and most importantly, to Gutersloh to pick up loads of Deusch Sekt for Squadron/Officers Mess parties. To do this one had to go through customs at Manston.

An arrangement seemed to materialise with the blokes with the portcullis hats. We would tell them we were going, they would tell us what they wanted and there would be a rotors running customs check at Manston where the odd case was offloaded for inspection.

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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#46 Post by ian16th » Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:36 pm

fareastdriver wrote:
Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:30 pm
An arrangement seemed to materialise with the blokes with the portcullis hats. We would tell them we were going, they would tell us what they wanted and there would be a rotors running customs check at Manston where the odd case was offloaded for inspection.
It always pays to keep the authorities 'on side'.

When with the RAFLP at Istres, Scotch was a sort after commodity in France.

When our monthly 'NAAFI Kite', a Valletta from Benson, arrived a case of Scotch was off loaded into the boot of the OC's Standard Vanguard. He then went off on his 'liaison visits', starting with the French Base Commander, I wasn't privy to his entire route but I know it included the Mayor and Police Chief.
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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#47 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Jul 09, 2020 4:49 am

Question for the cognoscenti here. I was looking at at an overview of the operational performance standards relating to Category A and B helicopters in the EASA environment yesterday and was apt to ask if there are official approach and departure plates for the rigs in the North Sea (and elsewhere) and if so how they might relate to diagrams such as this...

Cat A Dept.JPG

If so are the plates or procedures officially sanctioned or do they vary from company to company depending on the Category/classes relating to the helicopters being operated etc.

Excuse the the naivety of this question as all I know about rig operations is to look out for them (and their flair stacks) when on the occasional fixed wing foray to the islands up north.
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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#48 Post by FD2 » Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:49 am

I finished flying before EASA rules were implemented - it was all UK CAA controlled until then of course. Certainly there were performance requirements for Cat A or Cat B operations - take off and landing profiles and techniques. Companies could have their own variations but only if they were deemed to be 'safer' than those already approved by the CAA. Offshore was usually Class 'G' airspace but radar was available over most of the area above a certain altitude. With all take offs a lifting call was mandatory on the field's radio frequency and in some instances took the place of a load sheet for approved C of G calculations (passenger seating arrangements). Very handy for multi-sector shuttles.

Here is the Australian CAA S76 Flight Manual for a little light reading. Performance calculated by the manufacturers and approved by their CAA and much as I remember the ones in use by BAH, BCalH, KLM Helicopters (RLD approved) and Bristow for various types.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... ZD5hq1Rs4s

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Re: AAIB bulletin - Helicopter landed on wrong offshore deck

#49 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Jul 09, 2020 7:43 am

FD2 wrote:
Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:49 am
Here is the Australian CAA S76 Flight Manual for a little light reading. Performance calculated by the manufacturers and approved by their CAA and much as I remember the ones in use by BAH, BCalH, KLM Helicopters (RLD approved) and Bristow for various types.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... ZD5hq1Rs4s
Many thanks for your detailed response FD2.
Though you remain
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You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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