This section is about incidents from the 1980s – outside of the default Tech Ops website timeframe.
Pat Heigham
Having been spoiled by First Class Air India from New York to London and First (Thai) from Londonto Bangkok (for a Bond Movie), the most scary flight was in a Puma helicopter out to a gas rig in the North Sea.
They put headsets on us, playing the most raucous rock music, as the fuselage was not sound insulated from the engine.
We spent the night on board the rig – I was scared stiff, as the job was to shoot an update to the safety video following the Piper Alpha fire disaster (shades of stable doors, here). At least, someone had the sensible idea to billet each of the crew with shared accommodation cabin with a rig technician, so if there was an emergency, at least someone would know what to do. Within one minute of us landing we were shown the escape routes to lifeboat – knotted ropes to sea level, lifejackets etc. I did not get a wink of sleep!
Grub was good, though. G’bye TVC – Hello world!
Dave Mundy
There was once an OB insert shot on an oil rig starring Bucks Fizz, I believe, and the rumour was that their sheets were raffled after the show! Happy celibate days!
Tony Crake
Bucks Fizz were on the Russell Harty Show and I was there ! It used to be on YouTube complete with roller caption… but maybe not now… Complete show on the rig not an insert! (a clip here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDdX2xKTAGM).
We had to stay over as the winds were too high for the heli to take off. I had to share a cabin with that funny chap who did the darts commentary. No raffle of sheets there I can assure you…..
Alasdair Lawrance
I heard that rumour about Selina Scott spending an overnight on a rig
David Denness
The Selina Scott story was absolutely true. I was involved with the opening of that oil rig, colleagues of mine were on the rig while I was landside with lots of oil company suits. Sunset & Vine were the production company while TVi provided the facilities for the live broadcast back to Scotland, ably assisted by BT of course.
Dave Plowman
My niece Caroline is a metallurgist and often visits the rigs. And stays overnight, sometimes. She’s been doing this since leaving university getting on for 20 years ago, and was one of the first – if not the first -female to work on them.
Mike Cotton
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This is me ready to fly out to a redundant oil rig anchored in the Firth of Forth to film prior to an auction in Edinburgh.
I am about 7 stone lighter now! (April 2015)
Mike Jordan
Not sure what year it was but in OB s we once did a Christmas day OB (I think it was) from an oil platform(terminal?) off Bacton.
It was of course pre-satellite days and we were using Band V (about 849MHz in the broadcast band) across to the mainland. To make that work we had something like a 10ft dish that was airlifted out.
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Not long after we tried using this big dish to transmit racing from Newbury on broadcast frequencies via a midpoint on a hill above all the way to London to avoid another mid-point (cost saving!) but unfortunately it was so heavy, it broke the supporting structure and hence the many bits of rope/tie and an "Ash bucket" wedged underneath to support it.
Two thoughts here – firstly it didn’t work and secondly in those days, BBC even provided special bins for smokers’ refuse!
