Well first off the Newcastle Rescue crew are all a very professional mob ....and as it turns out the decision to "winch" turned out to be the correct one.
Looking at the footage I think a deck landing would have put the aircraft,crews and those to be rescued in more danger than the winch excercise.
The deck apparently was very oily and of course very wet (due sea spray) and subject to gale force winds .... now I only got some 3000 hrs in 412 (and a couple of thou on the Bk) so perhaps I could be wrong ... but even on a slightly windy day the 412 in turbulance can be a handful ... and once on that slippery deck may well want to "autolocate" itself to another position on said deck without notice or pilot input .... just think of the consequences if you had 10 rescuees gaily marching toward the a/c and it moved suddenly ....
Nah .... they did it the right way for the conditions at that time.
Very well done chaps.....
Cheers
Sgt Schultz .... FYI the ship is owned by the "Lauritzen Line" which if I am not mistaken is Danish owned. I believe their maintenance is Excellent.
(It certainly was when I had the opportunity to sail on their ships MV Thalla Dan and MV Nella Dan to the Antarctic oh so many years ago .....)