Page 7 - Sept 2015 Volume 19 Number 9

BLOB the BLOBI could only make out the outline of the platform from 500 yards away, and it was fast fading into the fog.cards, pointing to the west and gesticulating wildly.I didn’t wait for Moise to clear the deck but lifted off immediately, swinging the tail rotor away from him as I dove into translational lift. Seeing A Platform, I was awed at the spectacle. The white cliffs of Dover were marching across the oil field from the southwest, like the Blob that ate Santa Monica. B Platform, 300 yards west, was already obscured, as were all the toad stools to the west and south. But A Platform was still clear, bathed in bright sunlight, just two minutes away.Pushing the nose over and pulling maximum manifold pressure produced 75 knots with the big neoprene floats. From a mile away, I figured I was going to make it. The platform was still silhouetted against the fog, but the Blob was gnawing at its western corner.From a half-mile, the helideck was beginning to look fuzzy. I could only make out the outline of the platform from 500 yards away, and it was fast fading into the fog.The company VHF net was indeed quiet. Nobody was reporting up. I heard none of the light-hearted banter that was usual just after first light. It was an eerie silence.“Tango Four Seven, you better git on back now,” said a voice over theEven when you know you’re about to die, force your brain to focus.FM net from the base platform. “We got fog comin’ in.”I acknowledged and wound up the rotor to encourage the pumpers to get a move on. Less than a minute later, the junior member of the team appeared with theSEPTEMBER 2015TWIN & TURBINE • 5