[Image: Andrew Cowx]

Meet Andrew Cowx, Winchman at Bond Offshore Helicopters (Bond). Andrew joined Bond’s Jigsaw Search and Rescue (SAR) team in February 2012, and the above is exactly what he goes into work prepared to do every single day.

Andrew was in the Royal Air Force as a Regiment Gunner, before leaving to become a fitness instructor. Before long, however, he missed the military lifestyle of the RAF and decided that he wanted to work as part of a disciplined team again. In a career shift, he became a paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance Service – his first exposure to the emergency healthcare field.

During the eleven and a half years that he worked for the Ambulance Service, Andrew learned some of the most basic but vital skills that he now uses in his job for Bond. The role of a winchman is to be lowered down to where casualties are located (whether on a ship, or offshore oil and gas platform), provide immediate care to casualties and coordinate their rescue using the winch line.

Each aircrewman completes full paramedic training as a basic requirement, although Andrew was already qualified in this respect. On top of this, he completed offshore survival training, ground school training and flight training to become fully qualified. The Bond Jigsaw team also takes part in daily on-the-job training to ensure that they are ready for any situation. As part of this training, crews occasionally work with others such as the Coastguard, standby search and rescue vessels and even fishing boats, in order to replicate real life situations as closely as possible.

Andrew has been a winchman for just over a year, and loves his job: “I still cannot believe I get paid to hang out of a helicopter”. But, it is not always easy. Aircrewmen spend two weeks at a time away from their friends and family, often with minimal access to the internet, or even a telephone. But, without winchmen such as Andrew, the team wouldn’t be able to carry out their vital work.

The importance of this work was demonstrated early one morning last December, Andrew was on one of the Bond Jigsaw SAR aircraft which attended a stricken vessel in the North Sea. The vessel, Vos Sailor, was drifting after losing power in extremely poor weather and sea conditions

Having been winched down to the deck of the vessel, and managed the rescue of eight members of the ship’s crew, Andrew volunteered to stay on deck and help to coordinate the rescue of the remaining three crewmembers, despite having broken a bone in his foot while being lowered from the helicopter.

Andrew, along with colleague Paul Walters, has been awarded the 2013 Billy Deacon SAR Memorial Trophy in recognition of his courage that night. The award is due to be presented at a ceremony in London later this month.

More information on the BP Jigsaw SAR operation is contained in the first post in this series, which can be found here.

Yet these were the very conditions one morning last December when both of Bond’s Jigsaw Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters were involved in the dramatic rescue of 11 crew members from stricken oil rig standby vessel Vos Sailor, which had lost all power and was taking on water. Tragically, one of the ship’s crew was killed in the storm.

Paul Walters was the winch operator that day, responsible for getting his colleague Andrew Cowx from the aircraft onto the deck of the Vos Sailor, from where the two could start to lift the ship’s crew to safety. In recognition of their actions that day, both men were recently awarded the Billy Deacon Memorial Trophy, a trophy honouring SAR winchmen and operators who have shown great skill and courage in carrying out rescues over land or sea within the UK (see more here).

[Image: Paul Walters]

It’s all a far cry from painting and decorating, the job Paul was doing when he joined the Bond Jigsaw team in its early days.

In 2005, Bond Offshore Helicopters (Bond) was awarded a ten-year contract to provide crew change operations for BP from Bond’s Aberdeen base, ferrying BP personnel to and from the company’s offshore oil and gas platforms.  Part of this contract included the provision of Search and Rescue services under Project Jigsaw, aimed at improving BP’s ability to rescue sick or injured workers from its offshore installations.

The two Jigsaw aircraft (both Eurocopter AS332L2 models) provide an airborne Search and Rescue capability available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in all weathers. One of the aircraft is based at Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Islands, the other on BP’s Miller platform in the central North Sea.

The job of SAR winchman is to be lowered out of a helicopter at the end of a winch line in order to reach the deck of a vessel or person in the water, and coordinate a rescue, whilst the winch operator remains on the aircraft and controls the winch. Bond’s SAR aircrewman training prepares trainees to carry out both winchman and winch operator roles.

[Image: Bond SAR Winchman at work]

Paul joined Bond’s Jigsaw team in 2006. Recalling the move, Paul says he did not have the job satisfaction he desired. “I realised I would rather help someone than please someone. I decided to apply for a job at Bond on their SAR team.” In order to become a winchman, Paul first had some serious training to complete however.

All aircrewmen in Bond’s Jigsaw team undertake full basic training, which includes full paramedic qualification, ground school and flight training. For winchmen/winch operators, training includes use of all aircraft equipment, in-flight communications, winching techniques, handling, loading and setting up of equipment as well as providing aircraft and equipment inspections and keeping flight logs.

“Safety is, of course, our top concern. We always have an in-depth brief and debrief, we discuss the exact things we intend to do. Everyone has to know what everyone else is doing at ALL times. You have to be so in tune with each other” says Paul.

On a typical day, the first task for a Bond Jigsaw crew when arriving on shift is to get together and look at the weather and how it might affect flying. After deciding what tasks they will tackle that day, they go through that day’s training.

There are four hours of training available on every shift, which cover different areas of operation. The crew’s on-going training is actually valid for 90 days but the team try to renew theirs every two weeks if they can, in order to stay competent and confident during all types of flying.

The winchman and winch operator then inspect the aircraft to make sure everything is present and correct. When one team comes off an aircraft and another takes over, there is a thorough handover.

For Paul, the best aspects of his job are the variety – from dramatic rescues in the middle of the night, to routine reconnaissance – and the people he works with. “When you are stuck on a rig because of bad weather there is normally some joker who keeps everyone’s spirits up!”

When asked about Bond as an employer, Paul says that as a Bond employee, there is a strong sense of being an important part of the team. “They want you to work for them as much as you want to be there working for them. They look after you.”

When there is a rescue situation, multidisciplinary and multi-agency elements are involved in the process. There are differences and similarities in the technical and non-technical skills required to improve patient outcome between land and helicopter operations, but lessons can be learned from both. Primary retrieval gets the patient from the place of incident to a place of safety and more definitive care. Secondary or tertiary retrieval or transfer takes patients from a place of safety to more definitive care, but may still require provision of intensive care during transit to keep them stable. Can individuals attain and maintain the ideal of all of the skill sets required for primary and secondary or tertiary retrieval or transfer? This multi-skill concept, along with the resources and requirements of a service and the type of Air Operator Certificate (AOC) needed, can be further explored while looking at the differences between SAR, Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and Medevac roles. These all provide different functions but the clinical parameters discriminating between them are not always clear, and an individual service may regularly be asked to fulfil elements from across these differing roles.

Conceivably do we need personnel with experience as far-ranging as a consultant anaesthetist with extensive paediatric and intensive care proficiency, who has many years of experience in pre-hospital care and the appropriate higher qualifications? Or could this scope of practice be achieved with the components in the paramedic curriculum framework, as well as specific additional technical and non-technical elements? Two different approaches are available: The first is a physician-delivered and the other a physician-led model. Both have benefits and risks, but the question we should be asking is which delivers the best for most for the future?

The skills required for primary aerial retrieval of a patient from the place of incident to a place of safety and, if required, secondary or tertiary retrieval or transfer are wide-ranging. Recent years have seen developments in the training of both doctors and other health professionals, including paramedics:

• The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh faculty has developed the subspecialty of pre-hospital care for a doctor.
• Huge advances have been made in paramedic training and education.
• Opportunities exist for further postgraduate study which allows for the development of tier levels of practice for allied health professionals allowing for the current and future development of a potentially very exciting career pathway for paramedics within the Search and Rescue context.

But what is the way forward if we wish to continue to improve pre-hospital care further? A pragmatic approach would be to overcome prejudice along with personal and traditional organisational agendas and semantics. Developing favourable operational models that use the best teams and best transport modality for the timeframe and circumstances need to be appropriately resourced, resilient and adaptable. At the end of the day, we should be striving for best clinical care and quality assurance without any significant geographical variation in levels, while making best use of finite resources in the most cost-effective way.

Paramedics and medics need to work in a clear, structured clinical governance framework alongside effective technology and with physician-led support. Just because a clinician is qualified as a doctor does not guarantee they will have the wide-ranging skills required for pre-hospital roles. For SAR, all components of the paramedic curriculum framework are required as well as elements including navigation, communications, principles of flight and the challenges of aeromedicine.

Rather than continuing with the status quo based upon current operational models we should develop systems to support the wider body of pre-hospital practitioners. We should allow them to advance their technical and non-technical skills including dynamic decision-making processes and generic human factors. If we focus on improving the care and support of those delivering pre-hospital services, this will deliver even better care of casualties and patients, save more lives and improve the operational safety in this challenging, multi-skill arena.  We have the opportunity within the UK to become world leaders in this arena.

About the authors

Mark Bloch, the clinical lead for Bond Offshore Helicopters, is a Consultant Anaesthetist and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital and the University of Aberdeen. He works with both the Bond Offshore Helicopters operated JIGSAW Search and Rescue (SAR) crews, and provides voluntary operational cover for the Scottish Ambulance Service if advanced medical care is required pre-hospital. Andy Newton is a Consultant Paramedic and the Director of Clinical Operations for the South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust.  James Ferguson is a Consultant in Accident and Emergency Medicine and is the clinical lead for The Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare.

Bond Offshore Helicopters offers an attractive remuneration package and an exciting and challenging environment, working with a team of dedicated and experienced professionals as part of Avincis Group, the world’s leading provider of mission critical aviation services. There are currently six roles available:

Training Captains & Line Pilots

Ideal TRE/TRI candidates will hold a JAR/EASA licence and be current TRE on S92, EC225, AW139 or AS365N3.

Ideal Line Pilot candidates will hold a JAR/EASA Licence type rated on the S92, EC225, AW139 or AS365N3 with 500 hours on multi-engine helicopters.

Type rating courses will also be made available to the right candidates.

B1 and B2 Engineers

At Bond, we operate teams of experienced aircraft engineers who work to maintain and repair at the highest standard. With a variety of helicopters in our fleet, it is essential that all maintenance is carried out to the strict standards defined by the Original Equipment Manufacturers. Aircraft are checked every day and continuously monitored to ensure that they are always in the best possible flying condition and that equipment on board is serviced to an equally high quality.

We currently have vacancies for experienced B1 and B2 engineers with S92 type rating to support our new Sikorsky fleet.

Pilot – Humberside Airport

Two vacancies have become available for skilled helicopter pilots at our Humberside base.

As part of this process there may be an opportunity for suitable FO/SFOs to be considered for command training. Due to client contractual minimum flight crew experience levels, a range of command requirements will need to be complied with by completion of conversion training.

Suitable applicants should have 2,000 hours of helicopter experience, 1,500 hours of P1/ P1 U/ S experience and 75 hours of instrument flight time, including simulated.

Any pilot wishing to express their interest in this position should do so by Tuesday 18 December. The conversion course is planned to start on 21 January 2013.

To apply for any of the above roles, please send a CV with covering letter by post to:

Linda Jamieson
Bond Offshore Helicopters Ltd
Kirkhill House
Dyce Avenue
Aberdeen Business Park
Dyce, Aberdeen
AB21 0LQ

Or by e-mail to:

ljamieson@bondoffshorehelicopters.com

Even before the decision to back FOCUS, our Head of Maintenance Dave Malins had already been accepted for the Paris Marathon, running in support of Help for Heroes. For the previous two years the company had also been involved in the Dragon Boat Regatta in Gloucester docks, to raise money for CLIC Sargent – something our tireless organiser Dave was keen to keep up.

3 challenges, 3 charities and in an Olympic year – the ‘Bond Air Services 2012 Olympiad Charity Challenge’ was born.  It was now time to start fundraising and organising our challenges in earnest.

The team’s fitness plan included local lunchtime runs around Chosen Hill and beyond, weekend runs around the country as well as many walks in the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia and Yorkshire.

The first challenge was back in April with Dave Malins competing in the Paris Marathon. After months of training, he completed the run in a very respectable time of 3 hours 25 minutes, suffering a few blisters along the way.

The next challenge was the annual Dragon Boat Regatta in May. After paddling hard in blustery conditions to reach the final, the team were only beaten into third place by less than ½ a second.

On to the final challenge of the year, the Three Peaks.  The challenge to ascend, descend and travel between the 3 highest mountains in England, Scotland & Wales within a 24 hour period. No mean feat!

With bags packed and outdoor gear donned, it was time for the team of 15 walkers and 6 support crew to set off for adventures north of Staverton and beyond. The Three Peaks Challenge had finally arrived and it was time to put all that practise into reality.

After an overnight stop, we arrived in Fort William ready for our trip up Ben Nevis which, thanks to some low cloud, was nowhere to be seen!  After a final shopping expedition, we packed our bags and headed for the summit. It was not too long before we hit the cloud, rain and wind just prior to the snow…and the summit.   Amazingly we had reached it in just under 2 hours, passing plenty of people on the way. We all arrived back at base camp, to the smell of the support team’s pasta, tea and a well-deserved set of dry clothes.  Buses were loaded and we set off south for the next mountain – ahead of schedule!

Onwards towards the Lake District and it did not seem too long before reveille was sounding and the call to ‘kit up’ was announced on the radios.   0315, Scafell Pike car park: head torches checked, maps loaded, rucksacks packed, out of the buses and we were off again. A trail of white lights showed the way, but it was not too long before our path became a sheep track, which became a ‘Where are we?’!  It was now down to the skills of certain elite-trained members of the team to lead us to the path and eventually the summit. With an hour lost in cloud and heavy rain, it was safe to say that Scafell Pike was not a great place to be that Saturday morning.

With morale a little low, we were now behind schedule and were facing a sprint up and down Snowdon; it was time for something radical in order to recover the time.  Every perceivable short cut was taken and before you knew it we were crossing the border into North Wales – and sunshine!  We once again donned our wet clothes for the final push, Snowdon.  We now had just 3 ½ hours to complete the challenge within the allotted 24hrs….could we do it?  You bet we could!   With stiff legs and sore feet, the team headed up the famous Pyg Track, once again not to be disappointed by the weather at the summit…cloud, drizzle and wind!  Not wishing to stay long, it was a case of job done and head for home.  The final descent seemed easy, the light was finally at the end of the tunnel and whilst some still had energy to run down the final mountain, some took the more leisurely approach and made it just in time. 22.5 miles on foot, climbing and descending 11,175 ft,  and 1,100 miles in now very smelly vans and car – done!

To date, the Bond Air Services 2012 Olympiad Charity Challenge has surpassed its fundraising target of £3,000 and is heading towards £4,500.  All donations will be split equally between the three charities CLIC Sargent, Help for Heroes and FOCUS in order that people whose lives have been turned upside down can enjoy the best care and support on offer today.

The purchase is the largest one-time acquisition of S-92 aircraft ever received by Sikorsky.

The S-92 helicopter is one of the largest for heavy offshore use. Its cabin can easily carry 19 passengers and their luggage making it ideal for offshore crew changes and search and rescue operations.

The S-92 has an impressive service record.  Since entering service in September 2004, the number of S-92 in service has grown to more than 150 aircraft with helicopter transport companies serving the offshore oil and gas industry operating approximately 60 percent of that fleet.

All Bond S-92 aircraft will feature equipment and systems necessary for operations in the North Sea in accordance with the European Aviation Safety Agency’s requirements. These include five flotation devices, two auto-deployable life rafts, satellite flight following communications, and a main rotor blade ice protection system. Currently, helicopter operators based in five North Sea countries are flying 47 S-92 aircraft configured for offshore transport and search and rescue missions.