UnderWater Magazine
With technological advances pushing the envelope of deepwater exploration, the job market for qualified operators of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) is more promising than ever before. Compared to divers, ROV pilots, as they have become widely known, are relative newcomers to the industry. But with the offshore oil and gas trade again on the upswing, there is a shortage of qualified ROV pilots. In fact, the term "ROV pilot" is almost a misnomer, for a pilot is not just an operator who simply flies the vehicle. He is also a maintenance technician, a repairman, a jack-of-all-trades. The successful ROV pilot is responsible for every aspect of ROV operations on the job, all to fulfill his primary duty: Keep his vehicle operational and the job on schedule. The various training programs available reflect the increased scope and importance of the ROV pilot position in today's market.
"We expect all applicants to have basic computer experience, but do not see video games as giving any specific advantage," says Chris Bell, Managing Director for SubServ, Ltd.'s ROV training program in England and author of the Handbook for ROV Supervisors. "The dynamics of an ROV are very different to those experienced in such games."
Louis Cranek, President of the Idaho Institute of Robotics, agrees. "Kids in the video arcade may have an advantage in hand-eye coordination. But clients prefer someone who can maintain a vehicle and keep it operational. That's the most important thing. A kid playing computer games is used to speed, noise, and flashing lights. It's a conditioning process. But then you ask him to diagnose a problem with a tether, he can't do it. They only bring one element to the table, the actual piloting. It's the technician part that's most important."
The most valuable previous experience a newcomer can possess is in the fields of electronics and hydraulics. "A sophisticated, technical knowledge in electronics and/or hydraulics is not only essential, but a requirement for successful ROV technicians and pilots," says Mark Taylor, Training Manager for Oceaneering International, Inc., one of the few major service companies with a complete in-house ROV program.
Eddie Neylon, of Cable & Wireless Global Marine's ROV training program, looks for "the graduate in electronics, hydraulics, or mechanical engineering. Their skills are required for the maintenance and operation of the increasingly sophisticated systems." The bulk of instruction time spent in most training courses concentrates on electronic, hydraulic, and mechanical aspects of the ROV, so prior knowledge of any of these subjects would give a trainee somewhat of an advantage. Entry-level applicants are screened on an individual basis, but most training programs require a high school diploma or equivalent for admittance. Some, like Stenmar, have even more stringent requirements. "The course requirements for entry are two to three years of post-educational industrial experience and a training certificate in an engineering field," says Caddell.
Suprisingly, the training industry is split on the topic of divers having any advantage in becoming ROV pilots. Don Barthelmess, Director of the Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) Marine Diving Technology Department, is one of those who consider previous diving experience a plus. "Those who are familiar with underwater work and have diving experience respond well to remote intervention interfaces. They tend to think more in terms of the effects of the subsea environment on the vehicle and operation as a whole, combined with the immediate feedback from a display screen."
Neylon takes an opposing view when screening applicants for Cable & Wireless. "No disrespect to divers, but their skills do not necessarily match those required for good ROV pilots and technicians."
Like most subjective debates such as this, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. "If you took a guy off the street with a year's experience in electronics or hydraulics and compared him to an experienced diver, the diver will be a better pilot right off the bat," says Cranek of the Idaho Institute. "He will know the underwater environment and have the frame of reference to handle unexpected things that come up on a job. But the guy off the street may be better at maintenance and repair, which are at least as important, if not more, so it would be a wash."
In addition to the preferred minimum levels of education and experience, there are some intangible attributes that schools and employers look for when screening candidates. They essentially mirror the traits of any successful commercial diver. An applicant must have an impeccable work ethic, be able to think quickly on the job, and improvise when necessary, all in a high pressure work environment. Interpersonal, organizational, and time management skills are also at a premium.
"The education, skills, roles, and responsibilities of marine technicians are similar to other marine occupations," according to SBCC's Barthelmess. "The questions employers want answered are: What can this person add to the operation as a whole during the 90 percent of the time the system is not in the water? Does he have a basic understanding of hydraulics? Can this person troubleshoot? Can he MIG or TIG weld? Can he improvise to prevent downtime? Can he use a computer to log data? Can he produce a report? Does he function well in a stressful environment? Does he get along with others? These are questions that the Marine Technology Department is addressing in their training philosophy. In general, the marine technician needs to be a jack-of-all-trades, while being a master of none."
Some of an ROV pilot's responsibilities may suprise the prospective candidate. Flying the vehicle is the easy part. Barthelmess says today's ROV pilot must have good computer skills in order to manage paperwork, logs, and data entry. He must have excellent written and verbal communications skills, which are employed when writing reports or managing other team members on the job. Barthelmess also recommends some working knowledge of shipboard operations, maritime law, biological, oceanographic, and meteorological equipment, as well as the ability to work with hazardous materials under the correct protocols.
"Given the trends and growth in marine technology, one would expect the most demand in the next 10 to 20 years to be in the offshore oil and gas; marine contruction; and environmental monitoring, assessment, and cleanup areas," Barthelmess says. "There will be a changing and heightened demand in the way that marine technicians are utilized, trained, and employed. The various entities concerned with marine technology should continue to collaborate on ways to meet these needs for the future."
A prospective student in the U.S. can choose from a number of commercial schools offering ROV training. The Association of Commercial Diving Educators (ACDE) consists of the College of Oceaneering, Divers Academy of the Eastern Seaboard, Ocean Corporation, Divers Institute of Technology, and Santa Barbara City College. Other schools available include the Inland Commercial Diver Training Center, Professional Divers Institute, and Louisiana Technical College.
Unlike the commercial dive schools, the Idaho Institute of Robotics has the distinction of being dedicated solely to ROV Training. The Institute has also entered into an agreement with the Texas A&M Center for Marine Training and Safety to open the ROV Pilot and Technician Training Institute in Galveston, Texas. Both the Texas and Idaho facilities are scheduled to begin classes later this year.
ROV training schools located overseas include SubServ and the Underwater Centre. It is the emphasis placed on ROV pilot training that separates these programs from one another. Instead of emphasizing ROV training as a specialty, some schools feature it as part of an overall commercial diving education. The Ocean Corporation, in Houston, Texas, allots eight days to the ROV portion of its curriculum and does not maintain an actual ROV to train with. "We use table top training aids to simulate the vehicle. That costs about $10,000, rather than buying a $3 million work class ROV," says Ocean Corporation's John Wood. "It's too expensive. There are not enough jobs or students to justify our school's owning an ROV."
Many training programs utilize less expensive inspection class ROVs for training, but Wood thinks that using anything but a work-class ROV is a waste of time and money. "Training them on a $25,000 to $50,000 'toy' that is nothing more than a camera with thrusters on it is simply not representative of what they will be working with offshore," he says. "That's not 'sexy' or popular information, but it's true." "We've been told by the companies that hire our students that they don't need pilots," says Wood. "Our clients don't hire pilots, they promote pilots. Not many of our students are hired as ROV pilots. We make sure they have enough knowledge to know their way around ROVs, but most of our students are not interested in those jobs, anyway. They still want to be divers." In fact, Wood says most prospective students don't even bring ROV training up when inquiring about the school. "It's not even a talking point I bring up to a recruit," he says.
Wood sees ROVs growing in importance industry-wide, and says Ocean Corporation is ready to accommodate whatever the market demands. "The ROV industry is growing with the new and deeper offshore work, and it will probably continue to grow," he says. "But right now, it is still an orphan industry. We may have to place more emphasis on it in the future, but we'll address that when the need arises. We can always customize the training to be client-specific if we have to. We already do that, anyway."
Another ACDE school, Santa Barbara City College, takes a more intensive approach. They started an 18-week course of study in Undersea Vehicle Operations back in 1986. That program has been expanded and modified into its current form: modular programs in four- and eight-week incarnations. Barthelmess says, "These intensive modular programs are accessible to persons who cannot attend full-time schooling, and can accommodate those requiring retraining or skill upgrades who may not be interested in a degree or certificate. Currently, very few students come into this program solely requesting remote intervention training. However, many of SBCC's graduates over the last 30 years have launched successful careers in the remote intervention field as a result of their training."
The philosophy of SBCC's course is not to create ROV pilots, per se, but rather to create well rounded technicians who have a broad foundation upon which to build after they start their field work. "Flying and piloting are certainly useful skills," Barthelmess says. "However, the mobilization, logistics, maintenance, and troubleshooting skills are perceived as more valuable and applicable at any level."
While both SBCC courses feature the use of in-house low cost ROVs, all major aspects of undersea vehicle usage are addressed, including atmospheric diving systems, work class ROV systems, and manned submersibles. Like most schools, SBCC has found work class training vehicles to be simply too costly a tool to maintain. Instead, they rely on well designed and affordable computer based simulators as the only viable options compared to having an actual system to train with.
Stenmar's ROV course at The Underwater Centre was established in 1995. The training attempts to provide students with tasks they will actually encounter on the job, such as wreck location, pipeline inspection, guide wire placement, flexible riser inspection, platform inspection and concrete inspection with defects, and seabed sample recovery. The training takes place under a variety of tidal and weather conditions, operating from a heavy lift barge in up to 164 feet (50m) water depth. The course is comprised of 88 hours of in-water work tasks using three different ROVs, 36 hours of workshop skills practice backed up with 52 hours of theoretical lectures.
SubServ offers a three-week course, training between six and 12 students each time. In conjunction with Cable & Wireless Global Marine, SubServ helped develop an ROV "Certificate of Competency" to ensure the quality of pilots. "Piloting is only one competence in a set of 30 that we require ROV personnel to achieve; we therefore do not put too much emphasis on piloting skill itself," Managing Director Bell says. "The other competencies encompass safety, teamwork, leadership, navigation, operation of deck equipment, training, assessing, and the whole raft of technical subjects. We developed the scheme, have copyright, and along with our clients, are working to this new standard."
SubServ offers training courses tailored specifically to its client's needs, adapting them to company procedures and equipment. Companies like Stolt Comex Seaway have found this arrangement very beneficial. "They use our specific procedures, ensuring that the students comply with our philosophies on safety, quality, and operations," says Brian Reid of Stolt Comex Seaway.
SubServ has an arrangement whereby clients can "audition" trainees through an agency at a set day rate. If the company likes the student, it simply hires him at no extra charge. This gives a company like Cable & Wireless confidence in its new hires, a significant advantage in light of today's shortage of qualified ROV pilots. "SubServ evaluates the candidates, marks the examinations, and assesses competencies during offshore operations," says Neylon. "They use four very experienced instructors who have all come through the ranks to the level of offshore superintendents. C&W Global Marine also supplements the training programs with senior submersible engineers and shore based subsea managers for company specific issues."
In fact, tailoring ROV training courses to a client's specifications represents a growing trend for schools. Most major service companies do not have in-house training programs. Rather than make an uncertain investment in first hiring, then training, then finding out if the candidate is going to work out or not, these companies can instead contract a commercial school to handle their training for them. "Companies are begging for trained people," says Cranek of the Idaho Institute. "I had one company offer to hire our first full class, sight unseen! Another wanted to buy the school and have us run it as a training program for them."
One company that has developed its own comprehensive, in-house ROV training program is Oceaneering International, Inc. It started the course in 1996 in an effort to complement its high tech ROV business with qualified technicians. "We had ROV pilots on jobs with only one year of experience - not the ideal situation," says Oceaneering's Taylor. "We just didn't want to trust millions of dollars of equipment to guys who basically had been trained on bathtub toys." The original program had no pilot training, but was primarily a troubleshooting course for newly hired electronic and mechanical technicians. Earlier this year, Oceaneering built a training center with an electronics lab, hydraulics lab, fully functioning ROV for training, ROV simulators, and classrooms. Four full-time instructors teach entry level courses and newly incorporated advanced courses for the company's veteran technicians, supervisors, and superintendents.
"No school can produce an experienced ROV pilot," says Taylor. "However, a school can develop the necessary skills required of an entry level pilot-technician. Training must be continuous in the field."
Drew Michel of Global Industries says simply, "Experience is the key. The only way a pilot becomes competent is through years of experience."
Cable & Wireless employs one novice as part of a team of seven ROV specialists to help him gain experience. "No, it is not possible to leave an ROV training establishment and think you are qualified. This can only be achieved with offshore operational experience," says Neylon.
With the revolution in quality training finally catching up to the technological advances, the future is bright. Deepwater oilfield development continues to demand more sophisticated ROV tooling and remote intervention systems. Likewise, cable burial, salvage, and inspection are increasingly turning to the ROV for solutions. As the ROV goes, by necessity, so goes its pilot. This state-of-the-art technology requires specialized skills obtainable only through education. Fortunately, the ROV pilot training programs available today are fully capable of handling the industry's continued growth.
Entire contents ©1998 Doyle Publishing Company. Reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission is prohibited.
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