Helikopter - Offshore rig approach

Dette var SOP i gamle dager, 200`og 800m offshore. Brukte rad.alt. ADF og værradar. Ron Doeppner som er omtalt i artikkelen, fløy jeg en demotur med i 2002. Det var en fæl opplevelse; maken til vibrasjoner hadde jeg aldri kjent før.

Guidance System Shows Promise of Safer Landings for Gulf Rig Pilots


Imagine zooming from 200 feet in the sky onto a small green circle in the middle of a vast, dark ocean. Louisiana helicopter pilots do it daily, carrying workers to and from offshore oil rigs. It often takes more than two hours over Gulf waters to fly to a rig, but the final minutes can be the most nerve-shredding.

"You're basically maneuvering a 70-square-foot steel box next to a skyscraper," veteran oil rig helicopter pilot Ron Doeppner said.

"Night landings can be very difficult; you're in complete darkness with two small lights to guide you to the landing platform," Doeppner said. "You don't willingly fly into a storm, but one can sneak up on you over the ocean so you may have to land with zero visibility in high winds."

A new automated helicopter guidance system created in Lafayette makes those landings safer and easier, even in bad weather and total darkness. The system is called Rig Approach, and it got its maiden voyage in November on an S-92 helicopter flown by PHI Inc.'s Lafayette-based pilots.

PHI approached Sikorsky Aircraft - the company that makes Black Hawk helicopters for the military - five years ago and asked Sikorsky to create software that helped pilots in an array of situations.

As chief research and development pilot for Sikorsky, Doeppner tested every aspect of the guidance system himself, first in a simulator, then in the sky.

"Rig Approach gets all of its data from the satellite constellation; there is no land-based equipment involved," PHI Operations Director Pat Attaway said. "The system can fly the helicopter until its half a mile away from the rig and 200 feet above the water."