OK. I am on here to reply to the "critique" given by Crab et al.
Crab, you said:
Although the clearance from the vessel should have been pre-briefed, things can change and without references the pilot can only follow the 'con' - if that is poor then the aircraft and casualty are in danger.
Many organisations that I have worked with have a standard brief before all winch ops (either overwater or land). These are practiced and briefed regularly. They are carried out before any winch extraction.
In all my time winching off vessels (no matter what the sea state), the clearance from the vessel is at the pilot's discretion as he is the one holding the reference (once handed over from the crewman). You can't pre-brief this distance (clearance) as the factors facing you dictate this (ie. type of vessel, obstructions, sea state, etc). Probably different mentalities due to the geographic location (UK versus Aus).
"Move back and right left!" he said, with a worryingly frantic tone for such a stable deck in benign conditions .
The correction was made so quickly as to be hardly noticed. And as for the "worryingly frantic tone", every person is different. You work with a crewman long enough and you get to know their style of talking. I didn't think it was frantic at all.
I’m sure your average punter donating money drummed up by such propaganda would be impressed but purely because they would not know any better.
Clearances: Thanks for jumping on here for your first post but just to let you know, QLD Rescue (Government) and alot of the CHC machines have cameras on their aircraft as well - but that it is alright for them to show
their winches on TV isn't it.
I stand by my first post. Good job guys!
Anyway, it was only shown on TV due to the shark component.