Quote:
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!
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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.
