My son's new ride

[simpleman68]

Originally Posted by lrobe22

It depends on the company, aircraft configuration, weather, and customer requirements. Most 92’s with the Gulf configuration weigh about 18,000 basic operating. That’s 19 passenger seats, air stair and clamshell or sliding upper door, seastate 5 or 6 floats, and a cargo net on the ramp. No additional mission equipment. Average Gulf crew is around 475 unless they need a flying crew chief. MTOW is 26,500 without the GWE. Cat A with exposure is no problem up to about 38deg C and at least 80ft of dropdown. Cat A is usually going to be less than 26,500 since it’s so warm in LA.

Some operators require Beach +30.
Some customers require Beach +30 or trip fuel +10%.
IFR you need to factor in if a takeoff alternate is required as well as if a destination alternate is required.
Some don’t allow IFR offshore fuel alternates
HEDAs give you more leeway

19 pax and bags can easily go over 5,000 in the gulf however you’ll not be able to top off even the sponsons especially in a 26,500.

The 92 does offer more than one aux tank config but you’re looking at 16 pax pr less depending on the system.

The current locations we’ve been working have been about 221 NM from HUM. Sometimes you need one or more fuel stops to make it happen. Doing a multistop with fuel available, that can easily turn into a 600 mile route.

This is all based on a 1350ff at 26,500/~72% tq or 1500ff/80% tq at 27,700

A 26,500 carrying a full load IFR with alternates may be limited to about 130nm.

Just the usual stuff.

And I followed juuuust enough of that to get an idea

I didn't realize those things had that kind of cargo/passenger capacity.
Scott

[Corey_68]

Originally Posted by VITE1

He's working for a firm that runs people out to the oil rigs in the gulf.First day in the new ride.

PHI.... I grew up 30miles from their headquarters. In addition to oil rigs, they fly Medivac, I had one on my Helipad this morning dropping off a patient. Their birds and crew are second to none. Congrats to him.

[VITE1]

Originally Posted by Corey_68

PHI.... I grew up 30miles from their headquarters. In addition to oil rigs, they fly Medivac, I had one on my Helipad this morning dropping off a patient. Their birds and crew are second to none. Congrats to him.

How the heck are you? I hope all is well.

[lrobe22]

@VITE1 if you were curious about some of the installations he will be going to and wanted to check them out:

Appomattox
Olympus
possibly the Shenzi
West Vela
Auger
Argos
Balder
West Neptune
etc

YouTube (Short URL)

[VITE1]

Originally Posted by lrobe22

@VITE1 if you were curious about some of the installations he will be going to and wanted to check them out:

Appomattox
Olympus
possibly the Shenzi
West Vela
Auger
Argos
Balder
West Neptune
etc

https://youtu.be/wWQLMEPQImI?feature=shared

WOW!!

He loves the Hamster!!

[MadInNc]

Originally Posted by lrobe22

Good for him. It looks like he is at the Houma North Ramp or East Ramp! Tell him that a lot of the captains that have been there for 5+ years are just really crabby; don't adopt their negativity. It's tough to do when you have 220 miles each way @ 135 knots to Keathley Canyon where the deepest current projects are running. He's probably going to be flying Shell, LLOG, etc.

Is this his first job in the Gulf? Is this his first aircraft with PHI? Theirs are all 26,500 so the Cat A waiver exposure level is a bit better than the 27,700 GWE variants. Wish they had the Sea State 6 floats. He'll get to enjoy swaying boats since this time of year can have 10-13 ft sea states quite often. It's not too bad on a Spar, can suck a bit on Drill Ships, and it's uhhh interesting on a Seismic Vessel (aircraft basically doubles the pitch and roll of the ship, 30ft helideck height with no drop down for engine failure at TDP, etc.).

Just tell him to be very careful in winter weather and near any significant turbulence/storms. I've had multiple times where the aircraft is 2 cue or 3 cue and the AP's gave up as we entered turbulence at 300 ft while on an OSAP or Rig Approach.

Sincerely, another 92 driver and former PHI guy with about 10 years in the Gulf.

Flew PHI to rigs early 80’s. They were mostly old Hueys with plywood bench seating. Beat the crap out of ya

[lrobe22]

The 212's and 412's lasted for quite a while but are no longer in the Gulf fleet. They were still being used fairly recently in the Middle East and Antarctica. What base did you fly out of? There were roughly 14 bases in the 90's that I'm aware of and now there is basically 1 large base and a few ancillary heliports. Of course back then the operation was all on the shelf less from 5-100 miles offshore. Now the bulk of the operation is deepwater 100-230 miles offshore. The smaller aircraft operators have taken over most of what's left of production on the shelf.

[lrobe22]

So one cool thing your son will have that is unique to the S92 is Rig Approach. The industry standard offshore IFR approach is an OSAP (or HEDA) which is a non precision approach that is essentially only possible directly into the wind. This isn’t always possible because of obstacles are within about 1/2 mile of the flight path when you’re flying below 900ft MSL. Sometimes you have to take less than ideal paths to make the approach. It can also force you into bad weather near the destination.

Rig approach is a precision-like approach similar to an LPV and it also includes a Decel phase. While an OSAP requires your course to be directly into the wind, Rig Approaches can be executed even with a 10kt tailwind which means you have a lot more freedom in choosing the inbound course. The crew defines the destination coordinates, parallel offset distance, offset side, missed approach height, and inbound course. The rig approach mode defines the transition. What’s cool about this is when in Rig Preview mode on the Nav page, you can visually see an overhead view of the final approach segment to verify you will stay clear of obstacles and weather. IMO it’s a much easier approach to setup and fly. The only con is if you’re at MAP 0.6 with a half mile offset at 200AGL potentially with 200-3/4 conditions; it requires a pretty significant course correction if your approach course is directly into the wind. You can add in your own biased correction by taking a crosswind approach course to help with this though.

[kylebuck]

Originally Posted by VITE1

He's working for a firm that runs people out to the oil rigs in the gulf.First day in the new ride.

Oh is he out of PHI im Houma?