For at least the last 35 years, the UK gas pipelines have been surveyed by single turbine helicopters, mainly Bell 206 JetRangers, but there was a interlude of a few years when the task was completed using Hughes 500Cs as well as a short-lived attempt using Schweizer 333s. In a break with this tradition, NationalGrid… Read more »
Source: HeliHub.com, 28-Feb-17
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) recently launched a supplemental safety program in the Bay Area: daily helicopter flights with trained spotters flying 500 feet above 106 miles of gas transmission pipeline from San Francisco to San Jose. PG&E is completing a special program of helicopter flyovers in the San Franciscoarea as part of the company’s focus on preventing… Read more »
Source: PG&E, 11-Nov-13
Bristow Group have decided to close operations in Alaska, where they currently operate three bases at Fairbanks, Valdez, and Deadhorse. In a recent statement to employees, SVP of Global Operations Jeremy Akel cited the seasonal nature of the work there as being a factor, along with “providing services that are not aligned with [the company’s] desire… Read more »
Source: HeliHub.com, 07-Oct-13
Helicentre Aviation have been awarded an eight year contract to provide aerial surveillance services to National Grid Transco. The contract is for the surveillance of gas pipelines in the UK using Bell 206 helicopters for an estimated 2,000 flying hours per year. Helicentre Aviation are specialists in aerial survey and currently provide on-shore services to… Read more »
Source: Helicentre Aviation, 27-Sep-13
National Grid, the British-based infrastructure company, has for some years owned and operated helicopters in their own right and not leased in this specialist skill. This began back in 1985 with the purchase of a new Eurocopter AS355F1 Twin Squirrel and has developed with later versions of the AS355. More recently, National Grid decided to… Read more »
Source: HeliHub.com, 26-Jun-13
German operator SP Luftbild has won a contract to survey gas pipelines in the Netherlands for Gasunie, a Dutch natural gas infrastructure and transportation company operating in the Netherlands and Germany. The company’s network ranks among the largest high pressure gas pipeline grids in Europe, consisting of over 15,000 kilometres of pipeline in the Netherlands… Read more »
Source: HeliHub.com, 30-Jan-12
Source: OIl & Gas Eurasia, 14-Aug-09
