Having witnessed the birth of North Sea oil exploration in the early 1970s, Dave Clare, chief pilot with CHC Helicopters in Aberdeen, has seen enormous changes. He talks about flying in challenging environments
When did you start your flying career?
I had always wanted to fly helicopters for a living. Having applied to both the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy I eventually chose the Royal Navy in 1968, as they were only recruiting helicopter pilots. I completed my fixed-wing basic training on Chipmunks at RAF Church Fenton before moving to RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall where I earned my wings while training on Whirlwind 7s and the Hiller UH-12E. After that it was on to anti-submarine warfare training on the Wessex Mk1 in September 1970, but I failed the Navy's aptitude requirements for instrument flying.
How did you migrate across to civil aviation?
I contacted Bristow Helicopters and they offered me a job on the proviso that I completed my helicopter training, which I did at Oxford Air Training School. While waiting to get posted to the Far East, the first Sikorsky S-61 was delivered to the UK, in Aberdeen. Oil had just been discovered in the North Sea and the aircraft was Bristow's first permanently stationed helicopter in the region.
So the infrastructure in support of operations was limited?
Very! In 1971 we were flying from the back of the first drilling rigs such the SedCo 135F and the Seaquest and the first drilling ship Glomar 3. There was no radar at Aberdeen, so once we flew beyond VHF range we had to radio back our positions to a plotter at Bristow's offices on an HF radio. It was the first time we had employed a crew of two on these trips and unlike today's survival suits we flew with uniforms, wearing a lifejacket.
So how long have you been operating in the North Sea?
I left the oil industry in 1984 to take up a position with the Ministry of Defence flying the AS365 Dauphin for the British Underwater Trials and Evaluation Centre on the Kyle of Lochalsh. We worked on recovering torpedoes, personnel transfers and those kinds of support operations, but I eventually returned to the North Sea with Bond Helicopters in 1994.
What does your role with CHC Helicopters involve?
As chief pilot I still fly regularly, up to 800h a year are permitted, but unlike our mainline pilots I probably fly approximately half of their hours. Average monthly flying time for our pilots would typically work out at 65-70h, whereas I am likely to average 40. The rest of my time is spent working closely alongside our flightcrew manager and carrying out other duties. Operational flights will vary in length depending upon our destination. On average pilots will fly two to three trips a week. These could be short hops on no more than a couple of hours or anything up to 4h in duration. We also have a specialised team of pilots responsible for major operations, such as replacing flare tips, during the annual platform shutdowns.
How large is CHC's operation at Aberdeen?
We currently have 96 pilots based in Aberdeen, but are actively recruiting. Resourcing remains problem, with increasing demands being placed on our pilots' flying time. By year end we intend to have 120 line pilots in place and are expanding our aircraft fleet to correspond. We operate a fleet of 16 AS332 Super Puma L2s and one Sikorsky S-92, but this will expand with the addition of a further L2 and an EC225 by the end of 2007.
Source: Flight International
