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| Bob Compton |
| Gulf of Mexico Sunset |
| Archival inkjet on paper, 20 x 24 in. |
| Edition of 10
Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, I used to make a lot of money hanging out of helicopters shooting oil rigs, service boats, and personnel for various companies, including, among others, Transocean. I was once on the Deepwater Horizon, the drillship that no longer exists.
Many years ago (1979) I worked as a roustabout on an offshore rig, and vividly remember how hard and dangerous it was.
I generated this image from a small Robinson "Clipper" helicopter on the way back from the Shell "Mars" in the fall of 2000. I remember the pilot (but not his name), who was a Vietnam combat veteran and former US Army instructor for helicopter pilots and had thousands of hours flying time, telling me that he had "pushed his luck about as far as he could" in helicopters.
He went out on an emergency call to get an injured worker on that Christmas Day. He and his helicopter never made it to the rig they were headed to. Both vanished and were never seen again.
The Gulf of Mexico has always been a beautiful and dangerous place. |
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