The Underwater Centre train both commercial divers and ROV pilot technicians at facilities in Fort William and Tasmania, so trainees get the necessary operational experience from the very start of their careers.
Repair and maintenance of a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, is probably 80% of the job you’ll do as an ROV pilot technician, but skilful piloting of the ROV is also essential for a successful career. Understanding the nature of the sea, being aware of the potential for accidents, and identifying and piloting hazardous areas are just some of the skills you’ll need to know, and one of the main tasks carried out by inspection-class ROVs is commercial diver observation.
On the whole, commercial divers and ROVs work together in the subsea industry to perform different kinds of tasks. While ROVs can work at much greater depths than divers, have no need of decompression and can navigate by sonar/acoustic tracking, divers have two agile arms, a sense of feel and binocular vision so are much more versatile for carrying out certain types of work. However ROVs are still deployed in an observation and support role, so knowing how to work with and around commercial divers on a subsea work site is vital experience to have – especially in the early days of your career as an ROV pilot technician.
Class I & Class II ROVs are sometimes referred to as ‘eyeball’, ‘observation’ or ‘inspection’ class ROVs. They’re most suited to observing divers due to their size, as there is less risk to the diver’s safety. When working with divers there are a number of factors to consider, all of which are taught and experienced in a real-life subsea operational environment on The Underwater Centre’s ROV Pilot Technician courses. When ROVs and divers work together the diving supervisor is in overall charge of the operation, including giving permission to launch and recover the ROV. The ROV piloting team must keep in communication with dive control at all times, as well as maintaining constant awareness of the ROV’s position in relation to the divers, and never crossing the diver’s umbilical. The ROV must always approach the divers from downstream so an understanding of the waters you’re piloting in is essential.