Moggy's Tuna Manual

[Francis 'Moggy' Meyrick]

Good day, guys
MTM was always just about providing a discussion document, and helping new guys form their own opinions. Especially after I'd seen some truly tragic accidents. I've seen many nice comments, had many, many super nice 'thank you' emails, and some truly putrid, borderline bizarre, even hate-filled denunciations. I really couldn't be bothered to correct the endless fabrications, that are little more than much repeated fantasy. No, I never crashed a tuna helicopter, (I have never scratched a chopper in my entire career) and the indignant statement that I only flew 'seven months' off a tuna boat, well, good luck with that. Much more important is that we all work towards safety in the tuna helicopter industry. Forget about personality. In this regard:
1) if the approach I describe towards landing on a tuna boat is (quote) 'bull crap', then may I point out that 'bull crap' is the daily flying method adopted in the following places: North Sea (where I flew Super Pumas) and the Gulf of Mexico (where I flew for thirteen years, with never a scratch). So be careful with what you choose to believe.
2) the often promoted 'alternative technique' is described in full in MTM, and the reasons are given why it's potentially dangerous. In essence, people are taught to 'high hover' in with a high power setting, with an almost level approach with maybe a slight descent. There are a bunch of reasons why you can get seriously hurt doing this. If you go to an offshore operator after your tuna flying, and you always come in super flat with (inevitable) high power, you WILL be summarily corrected. We talk about this in the manual.
3) MTM is available on Amazon in either Kindle edition or Printed version. Or Kindle version on 'Smashwords'.
4) Now, note this: I have many times invited the harsh critics to write up their criticisms, and I have said I would be delighted, repeat: DELIGHTED, to include their preferred landing techniques in a revised edition of MTM. If you think MTM is full of 'bullcrap' (we presume you DID read it then?) (or are you repeating gossip & hearsay?) then feel free to write up your concerns, AND I WILL HAPPILY ADD YOUR INPUT TO A REVISED VERSION OF MTM. And let the reader decide for himself.
5) Now get this: over the years I have emailed pilots and Hansen Helicopters repeatedly and personally, and made this offer. I also respectfully ask that the tuna helicopter industry do like EVERY other branch of aviation: PUBLISH your accidents, so we can LEARN from them and SAVE LIVES. Response? Zero. Nada. Not a whimper. Not even the courtesy of a reply. So...??
6) So fly safe, guys. I really don't want to have a slanging match & hate fest here, and it serves no meaningful purpose. If you want to be nasty, have at it, I see no purpose. MTM was a sincere effort to provide a document to help people with the sky high accident rate. Much of the criticism I have always felt came from sources who were more concerned about protecting their profits, than with the safety of their pilots.
7) So again, feel free to email me with proposals for inclusion in MTM. I'm not interested in my personal glory, or my personal justification. I had mates killed out there, and I just wanted, very simply, very naively, very innocently, to help. I never expected to be faced with raw hate for my humble efforts. Believe me, the older we get, the softer we walk through life. The quieter we fly. For friends lie there, buried along the way. Flying is beautiful. But she is a fierce mistress, when disrespected.
Fly safe. Be humble. Be gentle. Moggy... out.

[angrywasp]

For all budding or relatively new pilots flying off tuna boats, there is valuable information in this publication. It was written years ago and although now there is a different generation of pilots, the pitfalls in this section of the industry remain the same. Whether you agree with the content in it's entirety or have developed your own methods, the fact remains the author and others like myself who were out in the last century survived by a mixture of fortune and listening to those who had the experience.
Who knows, there might be some little gem of knowledge in there that you will be pleased you were made aware of ?
At the end of the day, it is your backside out there........... not Moggy's or mine.
Take care.

[Francis 'Moggy' Meyrick]

https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2018 ... 661639002/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4xJuAvvO-E

It's no secret that 'Hansen Helicopters' and MTM/myself had differences over the years. They libeled me, mocked MTM, strictly prohibited their new-hire pilots from reading or even MENTIONING MTM, mocked my repeated pleas for their participation in an industry wide Tuna helicopter safety program, ignored my repeated requests for access to their (voluminous) (decades long) fatal accident database, and Turner Kapp in particular went out of his way to indulge in cheap & nasty ad hominem, personal attacks on myself on social media, any chance he got.
For the record, I take NO pleasure in seeing my former detractors arrested, charged, and in serious legal trouble, on a slew of charges.
My biggest regret is what might have been, if only Hansen Helicopters had stepped up to the safety plate, and NOT worshiped the 'Sacred Buck' way over and above the lives of their pilots and observers. I (many, many times) offered them participation, and access to updated versions of MTM. They could have printed articles there, critiqued methods and hugely supported safe practices.
All to no avail.
Which leaves the tuna helicopter industry, after all this time, still UNIQUE in the world of Commercial Aviation, in that accidents and fatalities, maintenance snafus and omissions, are hurriedly swept under the carpet. It's all 'profit', grubby money, and the message it sends is chilling.
I'm disappointed, when I think of what COULD have been achieved. I, from my part, meant well. I had friends killed out there.
I shake my head. The two saddest words in the English language:
"if only".
Fly Safe,
Moggy
http://www.chopperstories.com
author, "Moggy's Tuna Manual" "Blip on the Radar", "Helicopters and Humans" (all now available in hardback on Amazon)