One for Seahawk

[pavulon]

will throw this in here because it's still amazing.

https://youtu.be/9qndT3j6ttQ

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by daepp

Paul - I'm sure this is a dumb question, but did you ever land on a destroyer?

The reason I ask is that my daughter (an ensign and Jr OOTD) had told me harrowing tales of getting those things down on to the deck.

So when I finally got to go on a short (family) cruise, I was shocked to see that not only did they have to get it down on to the deck, but also it had to be landed on a device like a dolly. I couldn't believe the added degree of difficulty!

First of all congratulations to your daughter. What a great journey she has been on.

All my cruises and at sea periods in squadrons were on Frigates and Destroyers. I have over two years underway.

The dolly is called a Rapid Securing Device or RSD. The 60B has a probe that extends below the helo on landing...putting the probe in the RSD allows the Landing Signals Officer (LSO) to activate the RSD clamps that secure the helo to the deck and stop is from sliding around in big seas.

The two pictures below tell a better story. The first is the helo on the deck of a Frigate. You can see the LSO shack on the starboard side of the ship midway down the flight deck in the picture. The LSOs head and shoulders are all that are visible. He or she is standing below the flight deck.

The second picture shows the RSD and the bars that clamp around the probe as well as a different angle on the LSO Shack.

[tevake]

OH come on, please tell me that ship is slamming a hard turn and also caught a bad swell while doing it. Not just normal roll in the swell.
Those helos blades sure must fold in nicely to fit into those garage doors.
How long to roll out and be ready to fly?

I was interested to see your name Paul, in that pic from your early days aboard.
I've got a good buddy, same name, also an aviator. Bit of a different background. He got his start flying hang gliders. Now in large commercial passenger jets.

Cheers Richard

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by tevake

OH come on, please tell me that ship is slamming a hard turn and also caught a bad swell while doing it. Not just normal roll in the swell.
Those helos blades sure must fold in nicely to fit into those garage doors.
How long to roll out and be ready to fly?

Frigates are small ships and they do roll quite a bit. All ships have winds envelopes for flight quarters as well as pitch and roll limits for every type of helo that are qualified to bring aboard. There are times when winds dictate pitch and roll on landing.

Since you have sailed so extensively, you know that even in big seas there are "quiescent" periods when the ship steadies out for periods of time: That is when you land

The only picture I have of two "stuffed" helos is a blurry scan, same ship as above:



Helo origami: Everything folds.