TELEPORTATION

One of the best clients for whom I ever flew was BP, the British oil giant. I was with them in Algeria for about seven years, from the very start of their large gas projects, right in the heart of the Sahara Desert, near the small towns of In Amenas and In Salah.

- HUGH PRYOR

PART 1

OIL PROSPECTING TENDS to bring out the more original characters, which makes life interesting. But the actual corporate attitude of BP was also very easy to live with. And this was in part responsible for allowing some fine leaders to rise to the top of the pile, people it was a pleasure to work with and for.

If only one could say the same about the aviation industry, the vast majority of which, sadly, is now run by egotistical incompetents, who are nannied by bureaucrats whose only skills appear to be in the generation of mountains of paperwork at hallucinatory prices.

The BP projects started in the era before Health, Safety and the Environment (HSE), the industrial world’s new religion which has condemned the great sins of originality, instinct and enjoyment, saving countless lives and injuries in the process.

I am ashamed to admit that, when the new culture was introduced, I was one of the cardinal sinners.

As far as flying was concerned, we were out of the sight and the mind of the authorities. We were so far away from anywhere that we could not even talk to the powers that be on HF radio most of the time.

Of the ten destinations in the BP concession, only two had airstrips. At all the other places the pilots just looked for a suitable piece of desert, as close as possible to where the passengers wanted to go, and landed. After all, we were flying Twin Otters and the Twin Otter just aches for that sort of challenge.

Fun like that is banned nowadays.