Originally Posted by
Red Plum
Why just to the point of no return? If you think about it a little more, what will be it's 'point of no return' once it operates from a ship? That said it could well 'hop' from one deck to another as stages however there are difficulties with cross operating with other nations' ships.
Having spent a couple of thousand hours operating from ships with 'non-diversion' flying you work with 'Mother' being your destination!
It's fairly simple fuel endurance maths to know when a helicopter could leave the 'mother ship' before the ship gets to the new search area, operate for an hour or so in the search area (guided by co-ordinates from RAAF/AMSA/RNZAF), then return to the ship which by then would be a few miles nearer too? But I guess you're right in the need to consider alternates as well.