Landing a heli in rough seas

[greggj]

Heli pilot is landing machine on a boat, in quite rough conditions. Very patient bloke.

[dan_vector]

Ah the mighty Westland Lynx Mk90. Danish Navy.

[Dave W]

I think that's a trial for the Danes by a company called Prism Defence. Their logo has been blurred out in the corner.

Development of Ship Helicopter Operating Limitations (SHOL) is a challenge, that's for sure!

[eltonioni]

Impressive flying and scary if you've only the one place to go home.

I've a recollection that there's a system that pulls a helicopter onto deck with some kind of hook and winch, or did I imagine that?

[Dave W]

I've a recollection that there's a system that pulls a helicopter onto deck with some kind of hook and winch, or did I imagine that?

No you didn't; it's called "Beartrap", and some USN and Canadian types use it.

(I do a 2 hour lecture on this stuff, with videos and funny pictures. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs; very reasonable rates).

[JoeC]

Impressive flying and scary if you've only the one place to go home.

I've a recollection that there's a system that pulls a helicopter onto deck with some kind of hook and winch, or did I imagine that?

Although not he system referred to, you can see the hook extend and grab the deck on landing in the video above.

[Dave W]

That's harpoon; some naval variants of Lynx and Merlin have it, and it engages into a grid on the deck.

It's a "hold down", not "haul down" system, in that the aircraft needs to land first. One significant advantage is that it doesn't expose deck crew to the hazards that Beartrap does.

[Paul_Sengupta]

As David Gunson says, any sensible chap would land at the nearest airport and let the ship come to you.

[quickieq2uk]

The Deck Lock Harpoon is a great bit of kit and is one of the items on the Lynx that makes it the best small ship's helicopter in the world for operations in high sea states. It is very simple to operate as the pilot presses a button on the collective a soon as the aircraft has landed, this engages the harpoon and the aircrew feel a satisfying thud through the aircraft as the harpoon engages the grid and the aircraft is pulled down even tighter and squats down a couple of inches. There is also a light on the instrument panel to confirm it is engaged. The system is very quick and efficient to use and combined with the semi-rigid rotor head, sub-min pitch facility on the collective, long stroke oleos on the undercarriage, and the ability to castor on the spot about the Harpoon all make the Lynx such a great platform for operating in poor weather in the maritime environment.

[Dave W]

You don't 'alf get a high rotor speed and peaking torque if one's Man releases the harpoon and pulls up on the collective, not realising that the lock didn't disengage (despite what the light says) until the weak link fails.

[quickieq2uk]

You don't 'alf get a high rotor speed and peaking torque if one's Man releases the harpoon and pulls up on the collective, not realising that the lock didn't disengage (despite what the light says) until the weak link fails.

You don't have to pull that much Torque to break the weak link in the Harpoon and leave it in the Grid. The rotor speed in the Lynx also tends to decrease with increase in Torque, so will decrease slightly when you lift into the hover and then settle and remain fairly steady.

[Bill McCarthy]

In my surface fleet days (Leander Class HMS Ajax) to aid heli recovery in roughers we used to leg it into the waves rather than wallowing and twisting about in the troughs. The stabilisers have more effect then too.
The Wasp we carried seems to have had much more movement in the gear than the Lynx. Frigate heli pilots must be stark raving bonkers !