SAS - I am/was a navy pilot for decades. Lonewolf I operated off Canadian frigates for 3 years during my exchange tour and used the beartrap hundreds of timesd. What a fantastic piece of kit (by the way the Brits invented it but never used it).
Bringing a cab alongside first kills several birds with one stone:
1. NO dirty air to worry about.
2. A permanent escape route dead ahead and to the offside.
3. At night, the PH has continuous visiuals with deck lighting throughout the landing procedure. Approaching from over the stern can and does (because I did many cross deck ops with the yanks) cause visuals to "disappear" as the ship pitches out of limits.
For example: Pitch limits for a frigate at night, for a FREE landing: +/- 1-3 degrees. Roll limits: 5-10 degrees. Haul down: Pitch: up to 10 degrees. Roll: 25 degrees. These limits are impossible to sustain if one approaches over the stern. Alongside - you can simply wait forever until the ship enters 'quiessence' and then you can land. This is impossible coming in over the back.
4.. Pilot can trim, relax and get ready for the final landing assessing everything in relative calm before relying on 100% looking out.
5.. Any T's and P's issues can be identified and resolved before "committing".
In this particular incident described here - the TR let loose just as he cleared the edge of the aft portion of the deck. Failure occuring 1 second earlier would have driven the cab right into the back of the frigate making matters MUCH worse for all concerned including the ship. Hovering alongside at a high power setting might actually trigger the TR failure resulting in a downward trajectory into the ogging WITHOUT hitting the ship. Once committed to moving sideways over the deck however - of course the scenario would be the same as the one described here but the amount of time spent over the ship during this manouevre would have been reduced to a minimum, so too - harm to the crew.
It's a no brainer - hovering alongside is by a long chalk the safest option. [Which is why the vast majority of other country's naval ops deploy it.]
Another reason why an approach from the astern or "30 degrees" is ridiculous:
This would never have happened if one approached to the hover alongside |FIRST!