Captain Phillip Brady fell off a ship while transferring and did not survive. KP Class of 2001.
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RIP
Captain Brady
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Damn, sorry to hear for everyone affected. A fifteen foot drop into water shouldn’t have been immediately fatal; I wonder if he hit his head on the boat on the way down?
I don’t know if it’s relevant to this case, but I’ve wondered why so many pilot boats tend to stay under the ladder even when a falling pilot would likely be better off landing in the water than on the deck/railings.
I think I have said this before but anyway it only applied to my district.
On a short climb the boat would stay under the ladder the theory is that a short fall would be better impacting the deck.
On a long climb it would maybe be better to go into the water and then be hopefully recovered.
From a point of view of the bloke that is on the ladder.
A fall onto a boat could or maybe would be life changing as there are many impediments.
A fall from a much higher height into the sea would involve cold water shock plus the very real threat of being chopped up by the ships propeller. Never mind the thought of the pilot boat not being able to find you in a dark rough sea.
IMHO there is no easy answer.
I remember being in a boat that had made a difficult recovery and the crew were questioning their response.
My answer was
“ Don’t give a shit what you did wrong, you recovered a colleague. “
That’s all that matters to me. Thanks guys.
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As an addition
Massive respect for Pilot Boat Crews
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Don’t rule out the magnets….interested to see the report. Regardless it’s tragic.
In case anyone is inclined to contribute.
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Another tragic loss of a relatively young life. RIP Captain Brady. Condolences to the family, friends and associates.
Pilot transfer via ladder, in all sea states, is a dangerous endeavour…….of this, there is no doubt. The risk is managed differently worldwide. Some procedures are less than ideal, some are good, some are excellent……..but never perfect. We mitigated the risk by employing helicopters which reduced ladder usage to 25%.
It was an accident on a very dark night allied with an extremely poor sea state which prompted my retirement at the age of 64. My colleague and I proceeded in the cutter to attend 2 ships separately……..me the first and he the second. I managed to board my vessel after a somewhat difficult transfer. My colleague attended the second ship, climbed 3 metres and fell back on to the boat folding his body over the forward handrail structure….suffering significant injuries. He was eventually medically retired because he could no longer use ladders. It was a watershed moment for me and brought me to the realisation that it was time to get out after 22 years.
People will question why the boat was still under the ladder……it was an individual Pilot decision and not set rigidly in SOPS. As I said, no procedures are perfect but I will say that ours were excellent but incapable of preventing injury.
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I’ll just wait for the NTSB report, so we can learn from this tragedy.
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With no facts it is impossible to know what went on and of course RIP and condolences to Captain Brady and family.
Here is a report issued today by the MAIB about a pilot fall and death 3 years ago. Raises lots of issues.
To be clear not knowing the facts, I am not saying anything in the report has anything to do with Captain Brady’s passing.
Hard read that.
A Dutch pilot posting to facebook a couple days ago said only four of the eight vessels he boarded that week had correct boarding arrangements. He included photos.
The to be commended vessels and crews this week are:
ERASMUS NINJA
TRANSFJELL
STOLT SANDERLING
RITA
All other vessels needed and need updating. When a chock is missing it means that no one inspected the ladder after previous use and before this use. Pilots accepting this, doesn’t really help..
Incorrect stanchions mean naval architects, class, flagstate and psc overlooked it. I have added a drawing of correct stanchions and the way to do it is depicted there, this is the only way!! No alternatives, no loopholes. Pls check your stanchions and have them fixed! And offcourse a bunch of pilots before me accepting them doesn’t really help..
Incorrect retrieval lines mean the crew didn’t check the regulations properly. And of course pilots accepting this, doesn’t help.
Several people asked me to describe non compliances more specifically, so I will try to me more specific in that in the future.
When a retrieval lines is used, it shall be connected at or above the bottom spreader and lead forward. The reason it has to be done this way is to
prevent this line from getting caught at the pilot launch. The retrieval lines is not mandatory; it’s up to the vessel’s crew if the want to use it or not.
A couple of days ago we recieved the disturbing news of a tragic accident where captain Brady died while using a pta. A lot of assumptions go around now. please refrain from mentioning possible causes and just wait until the investigation is finished!!
Pls stay safe everyone!!
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