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TheOfficialPublicationoftheAssociationofDivingContractorsInternational

January Februa

Trapped Under

the Sea

Mystery of

the Red Lake

Navy

Diving

News

ROVSPOTLIGHT


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72 UnderWater JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

And in this era, the RCV 225 vehicle, or flying eyeball, was an active

participant. If todays generation were to see this vehicle on a Rig, it

could easily be confused for the small and portable circular shaped,

offshore satellites.

The term/phrase flying eyeball, when used offshorebetween

different generationscan be equally confusing when describing a

WROV, as this occurred in 2007 when we, the subsea interven-

tion team, proposed the use of an ROV skid during operations. This

resulted in a technical uproar, due to the vehicle being tooled up,

and having limited spacing. This gave rise to the ROV crew strictly

referring to it as a flying eyeball to ensure we understood said con-

straint. In the end, a skit was attached to complete the project.After the projects completion, I began to implore as to why a

WROV would be called a flying eyeball, when it is more akin to

a flying metal frame. The more I implored, the more perplexed

I became, due to the inconsistent explanations. In the pursuit of

clarity, and to better

The Great Crew ChangeThe last 30 years have not been kind to the ROV market; this

is especially true for the 1980s, as highlighted by Clive Furgesons

paper published in 1990 (2): Mid-1985 caused some reduction in

exploration and drilling activity which initial ly was a major area of

operation for ROVs However the oil shock of 1986 shook out alot of companies through the oil industry including many smaller

ROV operators and manufacturers.

To absorb the boom and bust ef fects of the 80s, oil field companies,

instituted layoffs and hiring freezes. The market would eventually

history

Ty Wraps and Duct Tape:An ROVs Backbone

Prior to Work Class ROVs (WROVs) becoming a staple of deep-

water operations, as highly advanced vehicles, there was a time

when ROVs were held together by duct tape and tywraps (1)an

era known as the Dark Agescomposed of the late 70s and 80s.

Flying Metal FraWork Class ROV (WROV)

OROV

BY FERNANDO HERNANDEZ, REACHING ULTRA


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www.adc-int.org www.underwatermagazine.com UnderWater73

recover, but when it did, rehiring new talent did not follow. The result:

a generational gap in the workforce, with fewer keepers and passers

of knowledge to transmit the evolution of technologyengineering

practicesand technical know-how to todays workforce. This a lso

applies to the understanding of language and terminology, the con-

necting thread of the above listed, as exemplified by the term flying

eyeball. And to better understand this phrase, the Ixtoc blowout

will be revisited, as this incident, gave it depth, and a lso introduced/

exposed it to a larger audience during the dark ages.

Ixtoc

The Ixtoc well, located in Campeche Bay, Mexico, was an explor-atory well that succumbed to a blowout in 1979, during drilling

operations, which caused the Rig to be set ablaze. Because the rem-

nants of the downed platform, and collapsed drill pipe came to rest

above the well, divers were unable to locate the subsea Blow Out

Preventer (BOP), as a result the BOP could not be engaged to control

the well. For this reason, submerged vehicles would bear the burden

of locating the BOP. But first they would need to be deployed: this

was no easy task, as topside conditions reached temperatures above

140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Notwithstanding, an international team pressed forward, which

included the famed blow out wrangler, Red Adair. Adairs scope of

work: kill the well. But to do this, he would rely on video feeds and

robots, as highlighted by Popular Science (3):

Offshore: Coining of a TermAt Ixtoc, a total of 3 subsea vehicles, were used. Of these three,

the RCV 225 is used interchangeably with the term of interest.

Which raises an additional question: why would Adair choose to

call this a flying eyeball? The RCV 225s circular shape, and like

the human eye it too is vital for viewing objects external to itself,

but to do this it uses thrusters. From a coining standpoint, Adair

is credited with coining the phrase flying eyeball, in an offshore

context, via Joseph F. Engelbergers book Robotics in Ser vice (4).

But the reality is t hat that neither the Ixtoc blowout nor Adair can be

credited with creating the concept of a fly ing eyeball: this d istinction

is held by Rick Griffin.

Griffin created the first known illustration, when working for the

Berkeley Bonaparte Agency, depicting a flying eyeball, more than 10

years before Ixtoc, by way of psychedelic posters announcing a Jimi

Hendrix concert. Furthermore, this illustration continues to garner

attention, due to its art istic and cultural impact, and praise, as i llus-

trated by the Heritage Auction Companys auction catalogue from

2010 (5): Underground artist Rick Griffins most famous creation

the flying eyeball star of his legendary psychedelic postermakes

another appearance in this outstanding pencil sketch from 1967.

Present DayThe phrase in question in todays market is not used to announce

concerts; instead it is used interchangeably to describe Observation

Class ROVs (OROV). Comparatively, OROVs have versatility that

WROVs do not: access to highly limited and constrained areas.

Their use in such settings will continue to increase, as they become

more compact, and because of such features, they are occasionally

used in deepwater settings, but in a limited fashion. But in regards

to the future deepwater operations, WROVs will continue to exert

their dominance.

Works Cited1. Held Together by Duct Tape and Tywraps. Newport, Curt. 2,

Gainesville: Naylor LLC, 2013, Vol. 26.

2. Subsea Remotely Operated Vehicles to Subsea Robots. Furgeson,

Clive. Melbourne: Third National Conference on Robotics, 1990.

3. Robot Subs Troubleshoot the Deep. Popular Science. 6, Winter

Park: Bonnier Corporation, 1981, Vol. 219.

4. Engelberger, Joseph F. Robotics in Service. Cambridge: MIT

Press, 1989. 0262050420.

5. Heritage Auctions Inc. Heritage Signature Auction #7027.

Dallas: s.n., 2010.

mes

Topside conditions at

Ixtoc (Source: NOAA)

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