In the heart of South East Asia, within the jungles of Brunei,
is Anduki Airfield.
It is Brunei Shell Petroleum's only service hub
for an offshore energy industry
that supplies 300,000 barrels of oil and gas daily.
A fleet of 3 helicopters ferries up to 360 people a day.
But with new platforms in the South China Seas,
operations at Anduki need to expand.
Today, Project Engineer Karl Acornley and his team
are taking delivery of shrink-wrapped new additions…
It's a continual process,
and you've always had a deadline, and you know they are coming
but physically having them makes a difference.
Ordered one year ago…
shipped nearly 11 thousand miles…
Is that it, there are no more trucks?
and costing over 26 million US dollars…
...two brand new Augusta Westland, AW139, helicopters.
We've always been a small operation,
so we've nearly doubled in size, from three to five aircraft.
But before they can fly,
there is the big job of unpacking and assembling each aircraft.
It's exciting for the guys
to see brand new helicopters arrive at Anduki.
It doesn't happen very often.
It's time for the team to get hands on.
These are the first AW139's in Brunei
and the finishing touch in a large expansion of operations.
Everything is brand new, including the engineer you're talking to…
The paint, the people, everything even smells new
so it's a new adventure for everyone.
Bartek Szczepan is part of the engineering team
responsible for these state-of-the-art helicopters.
It's the first day with the aircraft in our hangar
so we're essentially just looking over it, from the outside in,
making sure that everything appears to have arrived in one piece,
without any damage from shipping.
It's not just new helicopters,
there's a whole new crew of pilots
and its David Cameron's job to fit man to machine.
It's a new aircraft to us as an organisation,
we've got new crews flying together, who haven't flown together in the past
so we've got to get all these guys
who we know are competent and professionally trained
and get them to follow our operating procedures.
Before David can begin training his new pilots,
every single component must be thoroughly checked by the engineers.
We'll check the batteries, check the voltages...
This aircraft needs two batteries,
each twice the voltage of an average car's.
Without them the helicopter is immobilised.
We have a flat battery, the aircraft internal battery.
It may have just discharged itself in transit
because it's taken many months to get here.
The batteries will take at least two days to fully recharge.
In the meantime the engineers focus on the safety features.
So this for example is a rear float,
in the event of the aircraft having to make
an emergency landing on water,
this becomes a big balloon.
Inside it has nitrogen bottles, and the cover blows away,
so now you've got an expensive floating raft.
Project Engineer Karl is running the checks on these flotation devices.
There is a minimum pressure that should be in those bottles.
There is a graph here on the side
which allows us to calculate what that pressure should be.
These bottles are below the minimum pressure
that is acceptable to fly this aircraft.
It was definitely at 4000 when it left.
Now we've just checked it here and the guys are telling me its 3000,
so there's a leak somewhere.
If I charge it up it's still going to drop.
In this particular case we are not allowed to charge the bottles.
These float bottles
can only be re-pressurised at the manufacturers in California.
It could mean a two-week wait.
That obviously now means we no longer have floats on this aircraft,
which means we can't fly over water.
And as our primary role is offshore maritime oil and gas,
that is a problem.
The search is on for a spare float bottle.
If Karl can't find a fully-pressurised replacement,
this brand new helicopter will be grounded.
Meanwhile, Bartek is checking out the blades for the other AW139.
What we have in these boxes are main rotor blades
and I'm about to inspect them,
so we have to remove them from the box,
put them on our little stand
and have a good long look at them, to make sure everything's okay.
The five main composite rotor blades will slot into a titanium hub
and create a 14m-wide span.
It's OK, I've got this end.
As Bartek prepares to fit the blades,
Karl has found a replacement float bottle in stores.
We've got a spare bottle.
Take this off, change the bottle out and then send the spare away
and get them to recharge it.
This aircraft is back on track.
On the other side of the hangar,
the five, one hundred and fifty thousand dollar blades
are ready to install.
Putting the main rotor blades on makes a helicopter look complete,
so now at least it looks somewhat fit for flight.
Without it, it's like a wingless bird, right?
While engineers get the helicopter ready,
pilot David Cameron turns up to check out his new toy.
Judicious use of the hammer. Jolly good!
A hammer can be a very useful tool.
We call them persuaders.
As soon as a pilot appears on the scene,
a little bit of a nervousness runs through the crowd,
and understandably so.
With all five rotor blades fitted
and the finals ones in place on the tail,
David is one step closer to flying the new helicopter.
The only outstanding things we have are the number 2 comm antenna.
The assembly of the AW139 is complete.
The batteries were serviced and refitted because they were both flat.
It's passed a ground test…
and is now approved for flight.
So David can take it up for a spin.
These are the approvals that allow us to fly the aircraft.
This is the final stage of the legal side to say that we can fly it
and carry passengers to the offshore environment.
It has taken nearly two weeks
but finally these 13 million dollar aircraft
can take to the Brunei skies for the first time.
All the anticipation, the aircraft being prepped by the engineers,
waiting for certification,
writing all the manuals and check lists, doing all the training,
and then to actually get into the aircraft is obviously a sheer joy.
It does take you back to the first time you flew an aircraft.
You have a big grin on your face because fundamentally it's a fun job.
There's no two ways about it.
On a nice sunny day like today,
going out and flying the aircraft is just a sheer joy.
The new kit will enable Anduki to be an efficient service hub
for Brunei's expanding offshore industry well into the next decade.