Heli skills...

[TheGreenGoblin]

I am in awe of the skill some of these folks seem to have...

[CharlieOneSix]

Hmm - we never approached from directly astern - see the US helicopters at 2:17 and 9:50 in TGG's video - to a small ship, ie frigate or guided missile destroyer in my RN days. Look how close that tailwheel is to the deck edge netting at 9:50. An approach from directly astern means you could well be approaching in a slight flare with the risk of catching a tailwheel on the deck edge or deck edge netting - see the video below of that happening, 7 US Marines died in that accident. The best technique is to come to the hover alongside the ship where any flare to the hover is done clear of the ship. Sit there and assess deck pitch, roll and heave, then move sideways and land. The RAF Sea King at 4:33 in TGG's video shows the safe way of doing things.

[FD2]

It's an impressive photo - presumably held on deck with the bear trap device which the USN and RCN use - but let's get the horizon level...

deck ops 2.png (190.17 KiB) Viewed 203 times

The ship may also be only part of the way to the full extent of its roll to starboard so I mustn't be over-critical, but as we don't see any film of that operation I can't tell. It's not burning and turning either, so maybe the ship is turning into wind for rotor engagement...

It all seems to be labelled 'US Military Machines' but only the Seahawk operations are American and they are operating in flat calm conditions. The RAF Sea King being British has no device to hold it to the deck but the technique is impeccable and wow, the Danish corvette Ejnar Mikkelsen and the Lynx - well that's very impressive and a great illustration of what C16 has said about holding as steady a hover as possible until the deck steadies sufficiently to give it a go.