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Four Decades of Flight in the North Sea
a report by
Alan Grant
Head of Commercial, Bristow Helicopters, Aberdeen
When Bristow’s Captain Ernie Perrin lifted off from RAF Kinloss at whaling boats in the Antarctic under the banner of Air Whaling Ltd –
8:57am on a summer’s day in 1967, he had little inkling of his the pioneering company has grown to become a global leader
mission’s significance in the bigger aviation picture. He spent the day servicing the oil and gas sector. The heliport at Dyce is currently the
performing numerous 60-minute round trips in his Westland WS 55 busiest in Europe, with around 40,000 flights and nearly 500,000
Whirlwind between the Scottish air base and the Moray Firth before passengers transported each year.
heading back to Aberdeen. What he did not realise at the time was
that he was heralding the beginning of more than four decades of Bristow European Operations, the division responsible for the North
offshore support in the North Sea, providing a lifeline to the Sea sector, operates 38 aircraft out of five bases: Den Helder in The
fledgling energy industry off Scotland’s east coast with the first Netherlands, Norwich, Humberside, Aberdeen and Scatsta in the
offshore crew change. “I had no idea at all of the history in the Shetlands. It is a far cry from the days of the Whirlwind that carried
making,” he recalled. “The general view at the time was that the first workers offshore, and the ensuing decades have seen an
the whole idea that they could prospect for oil off Scotland was impressive array of milestones and pioneering initiatives.
faintly ridiculous. It wasn’t until a year or so later that the full impact
and the realisation was there.” By 2005, Bristow had become the lead commercial customer for
the EC 225, the successor to the AS 332L Super Puma. Bristow’s
European Operations now has some of the world’s most experienced
Bristow has transported EC 225 engineers and pilots. Within the first 18 months, the aircraft
over 50 million passengers in
flew 5,000 hours ferrying passengers to and from oil and gas
platforms. In the following six months the Bristow’s fleet of six
and out of Aberdeen, the
EC 225s soared ahead, clocking up a record-breaking 10,000 flight
hub of the North Sea’s oil
hours. In just two years, the Bristow EC 225s flew an amazing 1.7
million miles – the equivalent of flying to the moon seven times or
and gas industry.
almost 70 round-the-world trips.
The EC 225 is one of only two types of helicopter in the North Sea
Captain Perrin, 67, who began his career in the army air corps, that guarantees a full 19-seat payload. This is very significant for
joined Bristow in the 1960s and had already worked for the Bristow oil and gas customers who need this reliability of payload.
company in the Nigerian oil industry when he got the call to go to The ability to offer consistency of planning for 19 passengers is key
Scotland. “I was asked to take the helicopter up to Aberdeen; the to the helicopter’s success and very important in the maintenance of
objective was to fly to Kinloss. The oil workers were flown into the Bristow reputation for both safety and reliability.
Kinloss from Sunderland and I would then fly them out to the
Glomar IV in the Moray Firth. We were only allowed to use the far In 2008 the company invested more than £70 million in a new fleet
remote corner of RAF Kinloss and the oil workers had to stand of six Sikorsky S-92s (see Figure 1). These state-of-the-art helicopters
underneath the wing of an aeroplane as there was no provide a service to offshore installations from Scatsta Airport in the
accommodation,” he explained. However, a little diplomacy – and a Shetlands and underline Bristow’s commitment to the oil and gas
generous consignment of Scotch for the officers’ mess in recognition sector. The new fleet of S-92s replaced Tiger helicopters at Scatsta
of their support – quickly resulted in the use of a large search and and increased Bristow’s passenger capacity. They support the
rescue base and the instruction from the wing commander that they Integrated Aviation Consortium (IAC), whose partners are Shell, BP,
receive the full VIP treatment. CNR, Fairfield Energy, TAQA/Wood Group, BP (Sullom Voe Terminal)
More than 40 years on, Bristow has transported over 50 million
Alan Grant is Head of Commercial at Bristow Helicopters,
passengers in and out of Aberdeen, the hub of the North Sea’s oil
with reponsibility for the efficient and effective
and gas industry. It has a fleet of new, high-technology helicopters,
management of all client commercial agreements. He has
an enviable reputation for pioneering safety initiatives and a new
more than 20 years of commercial, contract and sub-
contracting experience in the role of architect, contracts
European headquarters and training academy currently under manager and commercial manager. Mr Grant holds a BSc
construction.
(Hons) in architecture from The Scott Sutherland School of
Architecture in Aberdeen and an MBA with distinction
from Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University.
Bristow Helicopters was founded in 1953 by Royal Navy pilot Alan
E:
alan.grant@bristowgroup.com
Bristow. Since his first missions – whale-spotting for commercial
© TOUCH BRIEFINGS 2009
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