This morning I was awaited with a flange safety course. This course equipped me with the knowledge to join flanges and to disconnect them while staying safe. At the plant every task we do shall be in a safe manner. I learned the difference between black bits and chrome bits for torquing these bolts to secure these flanges. The black bits are for higher pounds of torque for they are more malleable making them able to bend and expand so that you don’t break a bit and send it into your eye or body. The plant revolves around safety for we have had of 10,000 days without a loss time injury. That is a very impressive record they would like to hold. Breaking this streak would upset many of the employees of the plant for we are known for our safety values and time to evaluate the dangers. The rest of the day was ended with tasks of running around the office helping Brian and others do their tasks. This day was very productive as I earned my flange technician certificate and was always kept on a steady bit of a workload and I enjoyed that.
The day was started off with a drive down to San Juan School of Energy. At the School of Energy I was shown to the room in which I would be taking my courses. The course I took was a Hazard Management Workshop. This workshop showed me how to be safe in the oil and gas industry while staying productive. It taught me how to be a safe leader and that every job can be stopped as long as I see unsafe behavior. The biggest thing I took away from this is that you can do something unsafe a thousand times but it only takes one time to die. This really connected with me and made me pay more attention within this course. The class ended and I returned to the plant for lunch. Lunch was another buffet of pulled pork and cobbler. This was exciting and I was two for two on days that I didn’t have to buy lunch. I found that people never go hungry in the San Juan plant. I then took a tour of the plant to see what I would be dealing with and how the entire plant runs. The plant is entirely off grid. The plant produces its own energy as it uses jet turbines that run off of hydrocarbons that are processed in the plant. The plant is a high pressure system with most pipes standing at over 900 pounds per sq in. We took a walk around the flare tip to see what I would be dealing with when it came to flying my UAV to the top and inspecting the tips. The entire plant was very impressive and I soon found that this UAV mission won’t be that hard. I will find a way to effectively present this project and find a way to sell this operation to the plant.
Today was an action packed day within the ConocoPhillips San Juan plant. I started the day off with a video and orientation on plant safety. Once this was completed access to the plant was allowed. I was assigned my project of inspecting flare tips with a UAV drone. The drone was then assembled and ready to fly. After assembly of the drone it was lunch time. For lunch I was shocked with a make your own hamburger bar. After this lovely catered meal of beef and lemonade I found that things in the plant got better. There was a free coke machine! Once I saw this I said to myself, “Man this job doesn’t seem half bad so far. I could do this for quite sometime.” My now ready to fly drone was started up and I took her for our first test flight. My gimbal worked as planned and the drone had had a successful flight. On touchdown I had found myself excited for every previous pilot had destroyed the propellers. Then came Scott’s turn at giving her a try. He flew the aircraft great as he maneuvered across the sky. Scott then descended the UAV for a landing when the UAV started to rock itself back and forth. This rocking was caused by a stall of the aircraft. The drone crashed into the ground destroying two of its propellers. After a few short phone calls the new props were shipped from Albuquerque. I am excited to inspect the flair tips with my drone and to continue on with this amazing experience.
|