Image above: VAI/Zac Noble VAI Out & About: Quite the Treat A visit to Chevron’s Tahiti Platform made me appreciate our members in offshore energy production. By Zac Noble Several years ago, I decided I wanted to visit an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of America (also known as the Gulf of Mexico) to learn more about one of the many missions helicopters perform: offshore energy industry transport and support. My predecessor at VAI, the late Harold Summers, was heavily engaged with operators from the Gulf and understood the oil-and-gas industry there as well as anyone, and possibly better than most. Despite Harold’s support for my proposal, I never managed to make the trip. Last year, as I prepared to attend the October 2024 Helicopter Safety Advisory Conference (HSAC) meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, VAI President and CEO James Viola told me he’d like to come with me to the conference and visit an oil platform while we were there. Wow! The stars were aligning. I reached out to Billy Majeau, a colleague I knew could help me get the boss on a helicopter to a platform. Billy, a true mission-focused professional, didn’t let me down. VAI member Chevron volunteered to take us to its offshore Tahiti Platform, approximately 140 nm out in the Gulf. We soon found out that you don’t simply say, “I want to fly to an oil platform.” There are things that need to be done first, including training. One of those requirements is completing a course in tropical helicopter underwater escape training (T-HUET) using a compressed air emergency breathing system (CA-EBS). I wasn’t sure what the boss’s response would be to the required training—his schedule is very full at all times. But when I told him we’d need to complete it, his response was golden. “See you there!” he said. That’s an example of the outstanding leadership VAI has enjoyed during the five years James Viola has been our CEO. He wants to know what our members do and learn their pain points so that VAI can help resolve them—everything an association should do for its members. On Our Way With our pathway established, Jim Viola and I, Billy Majeau, and Jamal Wilson of the FAA met a day before the HSAC at Shell USA’s Robert Training and Conference Center in Robert, Louisiana. The facility’s training program is provided by Maersk Training, whose team of professionals is top-shelf. Maersk conducts a variety of safety-focused, mission training scenarios for the offshore industry. The Maersk Training team (in black shirts) conducted the T-HUET session for us (L to R in red shirts: Jamal Wilson, FAA; James Viola, VAI; Zac Noble, VAI; and independent engineer Billy Majeau). (VAI/Zac Noble) The next day, we joined oil-and-gas professionals at the Oct. 9–10 HSAC meeting. The conference, which convenes several times a year, is attended by management-level representatives of many Gulf operators to discuss everything from maintenance to flight operations. One HSAC meeting regularly focuses on integrating enhanced weather-station products into the Gulf’s weather boxes. As part of this effort, VAI has partnered with the FAA and, most recently, flight-app company ForeFlight to provide better, more accurate information for safer helicopter operations. Tahiti Platform Our visit to the Tahiti Platform was quite the treat, with the trip starting out from South Lafourche Leonard Miller Jr. Airport (KGAO), also known as Chevron Galliano Airbase, which is an impressive operation. Getting on the flight was very similar to a modern airline experience—stepping on weight scales, obtaining an electronic boarding pass, and passing through security. There was even a passenger waiting area where people waited for flights to their respective platforms. The flight to Tahiti Platform took about an hour in one of Chevron’s AW139s. Upon arriving on the platform, we received a safety briefing and a tour of the facility. We were afforded the opportunity to ask questions of the platform crew and really get to understand life on the job. We had lunch with a few of the crew, and a few more came in to eat and chat with us while we ate. Our Leonardo AW139 arrives to take us back to shore. The helideck team does a fantastic job of ensuring that each passenger is properly seated and buckled in before departure. (VAI/Zac Noble) The crew were obviously teammates and family. After all, they spend as much time on the platform as they do back home, with duty cycles of 14 days on/14 days off. (Aircrews also rotate on cycles of 14 days on/14 days off.) They work in an isolated environment and train constantly for emergency situations and possible evacuation. Their professionalism would make anyone proud. It made me proud to spend time with them. Thousands of times in our lives, we pull up to the fuel pump and fill our cars, never thinking about where the gas comes from. Now, I think about the Tahiti Platform all the time, especially when I’m at the gas station. Many thanks to Chevron and Jose “JJ” Jaramillo, manager of aircraft operations, and Brian Holley, chief pilot, for accommodating VAI for this wonderful educational opportunity. Jim Viola and I have new appreciation for everyone working the oil platforms around the world, regardless of who their parent company is. Zac Noble is VAI’s director of flight operations and maintenance.
