Supervisor chewed me out for doing 5 knots too fast near a pipeline

Was doing a pipeline inspection off Port Fourchon last month and my supervisor lit into me about my approach speed. Said I was churning up silt and making visibility zero for the diver behind me. Had to slow down to 1.5 knots and use a different thruster angle. Any of you guys run into this with older ROVs that dont have fine speed control?

3 comments

3 Comments

raymitchell2d ago

Hold up, I see it a bit different though. Your supervisor was probably more worried about the diver's safety than just some silt, and five knots is definitely too fast near a pipeline with someone in the water. An older ROV without fine speed control is no excuse because you should have compensated with thruster angles and more practice before getting that close.

rosebarnes1d ago

So thruster angles would have let him crawl slow enough in your book? Has anyone actually tried that trick with those older models and had it work smooth?

blair5971d agoOG Member

Hold up, @raymitchell, isn’t it on the supervisor to know the ROV’s limits before putting a diver in the water? If the old rig can’t crawl slow, maybe it’s not the guy’s fault for not having a joystick that goes down to zero.