Originally Posted by Thomas the pilot
Accept it - the brits are not the best at everything matey
Good morning Thomas
I thought we Brits were the best at:
Moaning
Black catting (my story has more 'daring do' than your story)
Talking a good fight.
Making excuses or blaming others when things do not go quite right.
Reading these very informative posts I get the impression the S61 was not the smallest of helicopters and would have probably not have been flown from the smallest of ships? I appreciate ALL ships will roll and pitch but the smaller the vessel the more 'exciting' the movement
Would the smaller ship in rough seas present a greater challenge when getting the beastie back onto the deck? The latest technology to lock the aircraft onto the deck is a tremendous step forward and must offer a far safer work environment?
I hate to see petty squabbles take place on forums and could this disagreement be more to do with the way the message is worded? I tend to respect all service personnel and try to read between the lines in any message that might appear to disagree with what I know to be factual?
If the weather takes a horrible step for the worse and you are up in the air with no where to go other than back to 'mother', then back to mum it is.
Regarding the skills of the Canadian Navy pilots then it would be a fool that does not acknowledge that you are located in a part of the World that sees more than its fair share of 'inclement' weather and as such you have to both train and fly in those inclement conditions.
Your very nice Halifax class frigate is a huge ship compared to the frigates of my era and would probably be twice the weight of my old Leander class
Hopefully we can all recount our experiences in a friendly manner with perhaps that banter we all enjoyed.
I have a few very happy memories regarding our visit to Esquimalt... Happy days