Originally Posted by
alphanumeric
of course not, but he would need some sort of signal from the deck crew that the helipad was cleared for a landing. ie free of obstacles, people.
You are right of course. Note from the videos online that the crew had laid down the railings surrounding the helipad to receive the heli, with crew evacuating the rear decks.
Apparently the ship was positioned head to wind to receive the heli, with continuous countdown to arrival, 3hrs out, 1hr out, 15m, 3m, 2m, final etc...