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Tag: Oil Rig

Unguided deep-sea research is essential for national and global security

Posted on May 24, 2010January 14, 2013 By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Science

This Sunday on NPR I heard the following paraphrased comment: “The ROV pilots have never had to deal with anything like this before, no one has trained for the kinds of maneuvers needed to close to well.” I’ve known many ROV pilots. They are all incredibly skilled, know how to handle their robots, and generally have many years of experience working in industrial settings.

But commercial ROV work tends to be monotonous. Many pilots I know spend the vast majority of their time inspecting pipelines and oil rigs, flying over long tracks of seafloor with little to no variation, looking for any signs of damage. When their skills are put to the test, it’s often the same repetitive motion, over and over. Even training simulations to prepare them for catastrophes cannot predict the infinite variations that could occur as an oil-rig collapses. It’s impossible to train for everything.

Until you throw a biologist into the mix.

Read More “Unguided deep-sea research is essential for national and global security” »

One way an oil rig’s blowout preventer can fail

Posted on May 3, 2010May 4, 2010 By Andrew Thaler 5 Comments on One way an oil rig’s blowout preventer can fail
Science

There’s not much more to say other than blue marlin bill fish caught in oil rig blowout preventer. Several people have asked why we aren’t blogging about the oil spill. The simple answer is that the Deep Sea News crew has done such an awesome job there’s not much more for us to add. H/T … Read More “One way an oil rig’s blowout preventer can fail” »

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