Originally Posted by
MeddlMoe
No, this would only be the case if the flapping hinge offset was zero. The real flapping hinge offset is 2-6% for articulated rotors and 6-18% for "rigid" rotors (hingeless or flexbeam rotors)
This leads to a small tilt roughly 90 degrees relative to the ships tilt
Interesting. I thought megan's reply was a great answer to part b of my question that would lead you to a non-gyro answer. So to check I looked at wikipedia and one of the shortest helicopter carriers is the UKs RFA Argus and it is 175m long. Wiki also tells me that a 60mph wind over a long fetch will generate waves 15m tall with a period of about 15 seconds. I'm sure going up and down 15m every 15 seconds feels like wildly pitching, but it's not a huge angle change (about 5 degrees according to my trig). You'd need quite a beady eye to spot that amount of precession in that environment, especially if the hinge offset worked to reduce it.