Chopper change

21 Feb 2014 - by Alan Peat

A recent decision by
Transnet National Ports
Authority (TNPA) to train
its helicopter pilots and
engineers in-house has
raised safety concerns
among shipping lines.
The lines are worried that
the chopper commanders
f lying ships’ pilots to and
from vessels offshore by
helicopter at the Port of
Durban will have little
experience of this high-risk
task after TNPA decided to
dispense with the private
company that was supplying
the crews for the TNPAowned
helicopters up to last
month
The end of this public/
private contract was
confirmed by Vaughan
Peacock, MD of Acher
Aviation, as being from
January 31. Despite his
company also having an
agreement to assist with
training up the TNPA pilots
while actually working the
job, Peacock admitted that
he had heard nothing more
from TNPA on this matter.
This means that the
shipping lines will be
obliged to use a motor
launch for pilot transfers
until the pilot training is
finished. TNPA has said
that will be a 6-8 week wait
till its own chopper pilots
get behind the controls,
but FTW shipping contacts
in the know suggested
that this could be read as
months rather than weeks.
The fear here, said
Peter Besnard, CEO of the
SA Association of Ship
Operators and Agents
(Saasoa), is that ships could
be delayed. This is especially
so if adverse weather
conditions prevail.
And, when TNPA
(Portnet as it was then) was
promoting the launch of the
helicopter service in 1998,
it pointed this out in its
comparison of air and sea
services.
“A helicopter pilotage
service
offers several
advantages over pilot boats,”
it said. “These include: a
faster response time (7.5
minutes by helicopter as
opposed to 42 minutes
by pilot boat in Durban);
increased productivity for
the pilots and tugs and less
downtime between ships;
a helicopter can operate
under more severe weather
conditions; safer boarding
conditions for pilots (no
rope ladders to climb); and
less dwell time for ships in
port.”
Besnard also complained
that the lines would also
still have to pay the pilotage
tariffs as if helicopters were
used. “The TNPA had these
plans, but it didn’t sit down
and discuss them with the
industry,”
he told
FTW. “But the traps
have now been set, and
there is nothing we can
do apart from express our
displeasure.”
Meanwhile, a highly
experienced
helicopter
operator
pointed out
the dangers in
TNPA using
newly trained
helicopter
crews.
“You
can’t just
transfer from
training to
commanding
a helicopter on such an
extremely specialised,
complex and high-risk
task,” he told FTW. “It is
internationally accepted
that a trained
pilot would sit in
the co-pilot’s seat for
two to three years before
he has enough experience
to be classified as a ‘day
commander’. And it’s about
another two years until he
can f ly the machine both in
daylight and at night.”
He also pointed out that
many of the pilots who took
on this task actually came
from air force
backgrounds,
with
experience in
mountain and
sea rescue.
“But they’d
still have to
do a stint as a
co-pilot until
they were
considered safe
enough to take
command,” he
added. “It’s certainly not
a job for raw-behind-the
ears trainees. Too much is
at stake in lives and highcost
damages for this to
happen.”