Thistle Alpha

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:05 pm

Saw the smoke.... wasnt a little one either....

It wont be cheap to fix..

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:15 pm

From what I have heard it was a fire in the sump of a gas turbine.. normally a few tons of lube oil in each sump. lots of smoke.

Turbine around £2m each

Mr Momo · Post by **Mr Momo** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:38 pm

Thistle - used to be called "The Black Pig" for a good reason.

Only ever landed on it, but colleagues (several years ago) use to tell me how bad it was.

Glad to hear all are well.

tut · Post by **tut** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:04 pm

Wish that I had a pundie for every time that I had landed on the Thistle A.

However I must have missed something as there is no mention on the thread as to what happened.

tut

deano15482 · Post by **deano15482** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:36 pm

tut wrote:Wish that I had a pundie for every time that I had landed on the Thistle A.

However I must have missed something as there is no mention on the thread as to what happened.

tut

look at johns second post above tut.

Mr Momo · Post by **Mr Momo** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:58 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/nor ... 111750.stm

tut · Post by **tut** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:25 pm

Thanks.........

Of course in my day I would have taken them all off in a single Bell 212, whereas now they need the whole of the UK and Norwegion fleet.

<BG>

tut

Mr Momo · Post by **Mr Momo** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:32 pm

they're all eating too much, so a 212 would have sunk under the weight....

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:50 pm

tut wrote:Thanks.........

Of course in my day I would have taken them all off in a single Bell 212, whereas now they need the whole of the UK and Norwegion fleet.

tut

I think if it was a "biggie" you would find out how many bodies you could fit into a puma.. spoke to one pilot ages ago when we were nightstopped on the Tern after a gearbox sensor fault, and I think he said around 30 if it wasnt to windy... only seats for 18.

dlogan · Post by **dlogan** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:49 am

I have worked on the Thistle, when it was still BP about 4 or 5 years ago and its name the Black Pig was well justified.

I heard they got 90 folk off in 4 Pumas.

18 folk is bad enough especially when sat next to a FB.

tut · Post by **tut** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:15 am

We carried 8 soldiers as a norm in a Bell 205(Huey) on Ops in Oman, but I once had to pull out 14 SAS who were under fire and heavily outnumbered.

Fortunately they were on a hill position, as the only way that I could take off was a downhill run on the skids to pickup airspeed, and a run on landing back at Salalah airfield.

The record was 22 Omanis, but they were all women and children.

tut

meatball · Post by **meatball** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:55 pm

tut wrote: The record was 22 Omanis, but they were all women and children.
tut

Are you talking about in a helicopter or something rude??

Kev · Post by **Kev** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:31 pm

Tut,

Out of interest, what other types have you flown in the North Sea?

tut · Post by **tut** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:06 am

Definately in the chopper, Omani tribeswomen ain't exactly hot.

Kev

Just the Bell 212 and S76 with Bristows.

tut

rossybee · Post by **rossybee** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:14 pm

tut wrote:Definately in the chopper, Omani tribeswomen ain't exactly hot.

Thanks for the heads up - I'll not bother chatting up the next one I see in a nightclub