Want to land a helicopter on a boat?

helo pilots will do just about anything to get it out of the sky
 
Nice!
Never been airsick, but I think I'd toss my cookies after 30 sec on that ship.
 
Can one see a graph depicting a ship's vertical motion vs time in such seas? Wondering if there is any predictability there at all.
 
Looks like some cool systems there. Appears there is a grid of some sort in the center, and after the heli is down and the gear squats, a little arm extends out of the helicopter and secures it to the deck of the ship.
 
Great patience, after they landed do reverse the rotor to cause it to squat down?
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Can one see a graph depicting a ship's vertical motion vs time in such seas? Wondering if there is any predictability there at all.
Click to expand...

I think the biggest thing is just having the patience to stay in that hover long enough to find a long enough lull to set it down.
 
brentee said:
Nice!
Never been airsick, but I think I'd toss my cookies after 30 sec on that ship.
Click to expand...

Unless I am wearing a transdermal scop disc behind my ear I ain't going past the breakwater. :D

My first ship landing was onto a crew boat in the Gulf about 90 miles off Galveston. I had around 15 hours of turbine dual so there was no question I was a passenger and not a pilot. The seas were around 8-10 feet and the ship's mast was about 20 feet from the rotor disc. I was sweating bullets.

They served us lunch in the galley...ham and peas, just what I needed. :eek:

Couldn't get back in the air soon enough. I am not a sailor. :D
 
3393RP said:
Unless I am wearing a transdermal scop disc behind my ear I ain't going past the breakwater. :D

My first ship landing was onto a crew boat in the Gulf about 90 miles off Galveston. I had around 15 hours of turbine dual so there was no question I was a passenger and not a pilot. The seas were around 8-10 feet and the ship's mast was about 20 feet from the rotor disc. I was sweating bullets.

They served us lunch in the galley...ham and peas, just what I needed. :eek:

Couldn't get back in the air soon enough. I am not a sailor. :D
Click to expand...

One thing about eating ham and peas.. They look the exact same coming back up...:redface:

Cue the Excorist movie....
 
A wise old man once told me... Never miss a chance to stay off a helicopter
 
Very nice. Got to be right up there with a night carrier landing.
 
N801BH said:
That was Henning during his younger days....

He was not only driving the boat............ He was flying the heli at the same time.......;);)......:D
Click to expand...

Shoot, they have real helo decks on their boats. Yachts it's a freaking nightmare to have a helo onboard.:nonod: Nothing I hate more than helo evolutions on the sun deck.
 
Henning said:
Shoot, they have real helo decks on their boats. Yachts it's a freaking nightmare to have a helo onboard.:nonod: Nothing I hate more than helo evolutions on the sun deck.
Click to expand...


:hairraise::eek:.....

I can imagine any deck chair / FOD / antenna is just asking to cause a rotor hit and crash....:yes:
 
N801BH said:
:hairraise::eek:.....

I can imagine any deck chair / FOD / antenna is just asking to cause a rotor hit and crash....:yes:
Click to expand...

I have jumped for cover more than once as rotors got too close to the mast. The real PITA is pulling all the rails and storing them and all the chairs and everything out on the deck inside where it's all in the guests way, then put it all back out, then bring it all back in, then back out... Rinse & Repeat ad infinitum. The biggest PITA is finding new deck hands all the time, because they jump ship at the next offer that doesn't include flight deck ops. Carrying submarines is less of a PITA than helicopters, and are a lot more fun.
 
It looks like the main gear on the helo has significant toe-out. Is this to inhibit rolling once the helo is on deck? Or am I dreaming?

-Skip
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Can one see a graph depicting a ship's vertical motion vs time in such seas? Wondering if there is any predictability there at all.
Click to expand...

Some predictability. Basically there are 2 wave sets and a potential base swell that are not necessarily all the same direction. The heavier the sea state, the greater the level of 'confusion' of the waves.

Typically you have your base set of waves that follow the steady state winds, then every 7-11 waves, you'll get a set of 3 that follow the gust direction. This set is typically 20-30% higher than the base waves, when these waves synch up though, you get 150-170% the base wave. Swells are a whole extra factor. If the swell direction is the same as the wave direction it's not that big of a deal, however if there is a swell or current (there are even currents in the middle of the ocean) opposing the wave direction, the waves get stacked tall and steep with a short period. I won't do flight ops on a yacht with all three stacking against, I'm hesitant to do them in anything over 3' seas actually, but we got the bosses 407 on once in 8' seas, but the pilot had to land down wind and I had enough power to hold the boat in the trough.

Most of our helo ops though were done at anchor sitting in the swell right next to the reef break (boss was a hardcore surfer), and the helo would hold off until I called him in. What I would do is wait for a set to play out and then call him in to land in the lull. It wasn't flat calm, but a 2-3' swell is better than 8-10'. Sometimes I would have to move the boat to a calmer spot.

As for graphing, no, there is no such thing.
 
Last edited:
It wasn't the hook that held the helicopter in place it was the pilot's extremely large balls that weighed it down.
 
Last edited:
cramm_hls_-_heligrid_(1).png

There's a grid pattern on the deck that the helicopter "bites" to with a belly-mounted hook (Harpoon). And yes, the Lynx is capable of negative pitch to hold itself down.
 
Why do the rotors appear to be turning so slowly in the video? The rest of the frame doesn't look especially slow-motion. Is that a frame-rate strobing artifact?
 
deyoung said:
Why do the rotors appear to be turning so slowly in the video? The rest of the frame doesn't look especially slow-motion. Is that a frame-rate strobing artifact?
Click to expand...

Yes. In fact, the rotors appear to be rotating backward slowly in this video. It's a frame-rate artifact. For a more pronounced example, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh-sf6vwSMc
 
deyoung said:
Why do the rotors appear to be turning so slowly in the video? The rest of the frame doesn't look especially slow-motion. Is that a frame-rate strobing artifact?
Click to expand...

Exactly, it's an illusion caused by the shutter period/frame rate.
 
Mike I said:
cramm_hls_-_heligrid_(1).png

There's a grid pattern on the deck that the helicopter "bites" to with a belly-mounted hook (Harpoon). And yes, the Lynx is capable of negative pitch to hold itself down.
Click to expand...

I was talking to a USCG helo pilot several years back and he said they were trying out a winching system where they come in on a hover, the deck hand hooks up a line on a high speed winch, then the helo gets pulled onto the deck in synch with the wave. I have no idea how it worked out or if it went operational.:dunno: I thought it was an interesting idea though.
 
Henning said:
I was talking to a USCG helo pilot several years back and he said they were trying out a winching system where they come in on a hover, the deck hand hooks up a line on a high speed winch, then the helo gets pulled onto the deck in synch with the wave. I have no idea how it worked out or if it went operational.:dunno: I thought it was an interesting idea though.
Click to expand...

Navy has used RAST on SH-60s for years. I don't believe CG has adopted it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAbm2XDpx9w
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top