54 Vol. 9 / No. 12/ December/January 2017/18 Global Aviator
Understanding helicopters
For those like me who have
served in the uniformed services,
leave is very precious and like life
insurance, it is the subject matter of
solicitation. Leave granting authorities,
like insurance agents, will try every
excuse in the book not to grant
you your ‘part of annual leave’. I
always coveted a job that included
plenty of scheduled leave ‘without
solicitation’. In 2014, my wish was
answered when I hung up the uniform
and signed up for offshore flying.
The entire offshore Oil and Gas
(O&G) industry works on a shift basis
marked by ON and OFF periods.
While the ON periods are essential to
earn the bread, it is the OFF period
which you actually work for. O&G
workers usually follow a two or three
week ON-OFF cycle. Helicopters
are the crucial link for hundreds
and thousands of O&G workers.
Offshore flying is intense and pilots
need to be given breaks when they
become ‘hot on hours’ – a term used
to describe pilots approaching the
limits of their flight and duty limits.
Hence, they too follow 6-weeks ON,3-weeks OFF, or some such schedule.
Life moves into a different gear
when you start working to an ON-OFF
roster. There are long periods when
you are (safely) away from family and
turn tele-counsellor for your wife.
Meanwhile, the other end slowly
draws up an elaborate plan for your
return. Don’t get excited. It’s not
exactly a holiday to Scotland she’s
planned. The refrigerator needs
fixing, fans need cleaning, dogs
need their quarterly spa and bicycles
need air in their tires. Sometimes
offshore pilots get confused whethertheir time at home is ON time or
OFF time. Wives quickly dispel
such doubts by handing over the
next laundry list of things to do!
Whether you are an engineer on
the rig, an Oil Installation Manager
(the rig’s boss), a cook or roustabout,
human sentiments around being ON-
duty and OFF-duty are universal. As
a pilot, one usually sees sullen faces
on the onward journey from shore to
rigs. When you land offshore, there
are smiles all around as your ‘return
payload’ is mostly homeward bound.
People shake hands with the deck
crew, give toothy grins and high-
fives, and the aroma of perfumes
waft through the helicopter.
It’s not hard to see why. Like all
work at sea, life on an oil rig is pretty
tough and lonely. The platforms work
24/7, 365 days of the year. Offshore
workers follow a 2 or 3 week ON/
OFF roster. There are 8-12 hour
shifts. You share cabins with two or
four others and work at heights that
can induce vertigo in landlubbers.
Hot, combustible gases, flammable
fluids, heavy, noisy, machinery andIn 2014, my wish
was answered when I
hung up the uniform
and signed up for
offshore flying