Originally Posted by
Savoia
So .. what is the correct procedure for a deck-landing with a vessel underway? I was told:
b) Once established to port of helideck begin to contour (mimic) the vessel's movements (ie. pitch and roll) while awaiting a 'flat spot' in the vessel's undulations.
Savoia,
As I mentioned before, some advice here may be less than helpful to the OP. If (when landing) you start to chase the pitch and roll of a small ship (or a large one, come to that) you are in for a world of hurt. Watch the Lynx video that you posted, especially the in-cockpit camera. The pilot is essentially holding a hover with reference to the horizon, and half an eye on the ship: when the heave is approaching the helicopter he climbs slightly, otherwise he is waiting for a lull in proceedings until the pitch and roll make it safe to land. Chasing the deck will end in tears when landing.
The winching, however, is a different kettle of canaries as the USCG machine appears to be following the deck to effect a winch transfer: keeping a steady cable is more important in that evolution, but I defer to the current winching experts (Crab, where are you?) for that.