Search and Rescue

In Norway, CHC's offshore-based helicopters provide a combined search and rescue (SAR) and inter-rig shuttle for the oil companies.

Operations include:
- Two AS332Ls at Ekofisk field for ConocoPhillips

(one AWSAR and one LIMSAR)
- One AS332 L1 (AWSAR) at Oseberg field for Norsk Hydro

(This will be replaced by one EC225 AWSAR in 2010)
- One Bell 214 ST (AWSAR) at Statfjord field for Statoil

- One AS332L1 AWSAR at Heidrun for Statoil

The helicopters are either permanently equipped for SAR duty 24 hours a day, or can be converted from inter-rig shuttle role to SAR duty role within 15 minutes.
They are manned with two pilots, a rescue technician, winch operator, and an oil company SAR nurse.
CHC provides 24-hour preparedness for SAR, ambulance and oil pollution responce in accordance with pre-defined emergency situations. CHC crews act in concert with government SAR operations and can be called upon by the Norwegian Search and Rescue Service to offer assistance in any emergency situation within their area of operation.

Article:

Norwegian SAR team proves it has the edge

CHC customers regularly conduct safety exercises to test our preparedness. The following is a crewman's report from a recent exercise:

March 29 was a typical, nasty day on the North Sea. Winds were in the range of 45 knots, seas between four and six metres, and the water icy cold - a perfect day to test the capabilities of Search and Rescue teams, decided CHC customers BP and Phillips Petroleum.

The mock disaster was to be a rough-seas exercise.

The March 29 high seas rescue would test our preparedness. Crews would not be told what was happening until the dummies were in the sea. We would have to make potential life-and-death decisions in seconds, and the company would be judged on the results.

"This is what we train for," said SAR Coordinator Svein Olav Solbjorg. "The exercises are carried out under very real conditions."

At 10:06, March 29, BP/Phillips announced an unknown number of "victims" were in the water, one nautical mile northwest of the nearby Ula platform. Stand-by vessels in the area were given the same limited information

CHC scrambled a Dauphin from Ekofisk with SAR-trained pilot, hoist operator and down-line winchman on board. In addition, an oil company nurse accompanied the flight. The team in the helicopter worked together flawlessly, communicating at all times using a locally developed wireless communications system, and putting into practice years of training. The victims were quickly spotted in the high seas, and the team went to work hoisting.

We plucked all nine dummies out of the sea in plenty of time to save their lives, had it been a real disaster.

The data will help refine not just rescue procedures, but may also be used to balance the number of passengers on crew change flights against the remaining rescue capability.

In Norway CHC has approximately 20 SAR-qualified pilots flying the Dauphin, 12 SAR-qualified pilots on the 214ST and seven SAR-qualified Super Puma pilots. In addition, there are 18 qualified hoist operators, and 8 winchmen, who double as helideck crew when not training for SAR.

Today the typical equipment for SAR operations include a flight management system with automatic search capabilities; homing equipment; rescue hoist; dual sensor IR/CCD camera system; extra search light (Nightsun) and SAR communication system using wireless communication between the winchman and the rest of the crew via the helicopter's intercom. In addition, one of the two Ekofisk-based Dauphins are equipped with autohover. The crews proved in these exercises that a rigorous training schedule and sophisticated equipment really pays off.