Originally Posted by
Kulwin Park
It looks like it would've been ideal to whack on the Main Rotor Brake as soon as touchdown occurred. It would stop the blades whacking the water faster as it rolled, and a quicker exit for passengers.
I wonder if that is a requirement during ditching?
Condolences to the ones who didn't make it.
No rotor brake brakes the rotors faster than having the blades whacking the water.
In a helicopter without floats, that (ie, cyclic sideways, to as soon as possible stop blades by contact with water) would be the proper procedure.
The procedure for helicopter with floats has been explained by others in this thread.
It appears the mishap pilot’s problem was that due to high rate of descend at touch down the ship submerged anyway (despite the deployed floats).