Water Birds
pilots have left a skid tied down and paid
the price when applying takeoff power.
Mechanical Failure
It can happen anywhere, but over water it
takes on a more serious aspect due to lack of
landing choices. Even with floats, a helicopter is not a very good substitute for a boat.
deck, there is usually only one way into the
heli-deck and one way out, and neither is
rarely directly into the wind. The pilot’s
choice sometimes comes down to: Should
I let the barge bang into my skids or should
I bang the skids onto the deck? Either way,
it is a thrill to land and take off, especially in
a quartering crosswind and it takes a great
deal of skill to do it smoothly.
aircraft is also stated. Due to obstructions,
some platforms do not permit omnidirectional takeoffs and landings. It’s one way
in and one way out. All landings offshore
are not directly into the wind, meaning an
offshore helicopter pilot must be extremely
wind sensitive for takeoffs and landings.
Bird Strikes
Helicopters have a few things in common
with birds, but mostly, we fly in each others
airspace continuously, whereas airplanes
just sort of transition. There are a lot of
birds around the Gulf Coast, many of them
chicken size or larger. Strikes are common
and some can result in major damage and
injury. There is an accident involving a
large helicopter with fatalities that is under
current investigation by the NTSB, with
bird activity being one of the suspected
contributors. The photo you see (below
right) is from an actual in-flight strike on
another helicopter while it was turning on
final to land. The mallard duck was pierced
and impaled on the roof wire cutter.
Wind Socks/Indicators
All the platforms with heli-decks have
some type of wind indicator. The preferred is a woven wind sock but some use
a metal flag that can swivel with the wind
direction. You would think that it would
hardly be needed when you can look at
the wave action as you approach, but the
direction of the waves can be a false indicator. The actual wind can cut across the
wave action and could be as much as 180
degrees off the perceived direction.
Cranes
Almost every platform in the Gulf has a
boom-type crane affixed to the rig. They
are in heavy use from sun up to sun down.
Because of the tight space on the rigs, many
of these cranes will impose on the heli-deck
operating space. Nowadays, there are few
incidents concerning helicopter operations
and crane operations where they are in
conflict, but it was not always so. There will
be more on this later.
Blowouts & Poison Gas
A blowout is when the oil well or gas well
pressure exceeds the capping capability
and the product (either oil or gas) shoots
wildly out of the well, usually catching fire.
These incidents take place during normal
well drilling and also with older wells that
are being maintained. The well or drilling
activity takes place at a distance measured
in feet from where the helicopter deck is
located. In some cases, the entire platform
is destroyed along with everything on it.
Poison gas (hydrogen sulfide) is a well
by-product that can sometimes accompany
hydro carbon extraction and seep into the
atmosphere. It is deadly but rarely encountered. All drilling companies have detectors
in place, just in case. Nevertheless, it could
be a hazard to helicopter pilots who work
near the drillers and over cre ws.
Landing on Work Barges
A work barge is not fixed to the ocean floor
like a regular oil platform. It is a shallow
draft barge that can be anchored over a
site to do various things like laying pipe,
erecting fixed platforms, digging underwater pipe ditches, etc. There is a beehive
of activity aboard one, including multiple
cranes in operation. Almost all have heli-decks and are supported by helicopters.
Landing on one in high winds and turbulent seas can be a real experience because
they bob up and down and laterally at
the same time. Due to the crowded barge
Poorly Marked Decks
There are no air traffic control towers on
the platforms. The pilot’s only source of
information about the landing deck is the
painted information thereon (and the wind
indicator that is, hopefully, also visible from
the heli-deck). Like runway and taxiway
information, there is a painted code that
can offer a great deal of information. Maximum allowable weight is a critical one. The
deck can be overstressed depending on the
engineering of the braces, etc. Included in
this information are obstruction clearances,
no hover areas, no tail rotor areas, passenger exit and entry points, aiming circles for
a touchdown point and takeoff and landing directions. The allowable length of the
Shown here is one of many offshore dangers:
the impact of a large water fowl on a helicopter.
Gas Venting
It becomes necessary to vent gas off of
platforms on occasion, usually for production or maintenance reasons. To keep
the gas away from the platform, a long
boom is installed, usually on the downwind side of the prevailing wind. The
gas is pumped through this boom and
sometimes ignited (called a flare), but
sometimes it is not. If a helicopter were
to fly through this gas and get sucked into
the engines, there would be an immediate overtemp and possible damage.
Fuel
Photo by Pat Gray
Fuel can be a logistics problem. Two things
that make it a hazard are availability and
contamination. Fuel must be transported
by work boat from the shore to the designated rig, off-loaded via crane, positioned
and connected. It comes in bulk containers, usually 500 or 1,000-gallon capacity.
There are two main helicopter support
functions in the Gulf, keeping in mind
