Deck landings.. Where do you start??
Sandy has covered quite a lot of it. I've never landed anything as small as a 206 on a pitching, heaving deck before, being an ex Sea King driver.(I would expect the 206 to twitch rather than wallow in the lee of the super-structure).
Things to watch out for would be turbulence in the lee. Try to give yourself a red 45 degree relative wind and approach from the left.
Be ready to go around if the turbulence gets beyond your own personally set limits (avoid pumping the lever and over-torquing).
You're landing with wind from the left so think about pedal limits and yaw control in turbulence (power off in the 206 I think so should have spare pedal to play with).
Smoke from the stacks might come into play at some point so stay low as you move over the deck.
Salt-spray ingestion might be a problem if you spend too much time hovering along side.
Let the ship's movement settle before moving over the deck. It may look rough at first but it WILL settle 'trust me.'
Whilst along side pick your 'bum-line' (Probably one marked) and your 'eye-line' (possibly marked on the ship ahead of the flight deck). Without conning from the rear you will need these for visual references as you lose sight of the deck beneath you (talking mainly large helo here).
In turbulence, dont be afraid of making a firm landing. Avoids those pesky rollover problems.
If your machine has a stab/SAS etc, disengage it immediately after landing as it will try to compensate for deck movement. Likewise leave it till last before taking off.
Avoid looking at the propellers as they come out of the water I guarantee it will put you off.
Have a plan for in case you ditch.
These are some of the more extreme problems you might face but if it's a nice day and the sea is smooth, you'll walk it, Enjoy!!
Last edited by Moneyshot; 14th Jan 2003 at 16:58.