how not to land a helicopter on deck - video

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Categories: Video

Tags: · helicopter, helicopter_landing, helicopter_ops, helo, hlo, Navy, Offshore, sea, us_navy, Video

1 Tim Flanagan // Nov 4, 2007 at 11:27 pm

Wow! So…what’s the story? What vessel? Is it normal to attempt take-off in a sea like that?
2 John // Nov 5, 2007 at 1:35 am

Sorry Tim, I don’t have the details but maybe another reader can fill us all in.

I have seen safe landings in much worse weather than this (well maybe not with the ship pitching THAT much) so I can only assume the problem was pilot error or equipment malfunction. The one crash I witnessed (actually I only saw the aftermath) totaled the aircraft. It happened because one skid got caught in the cargo net and as the helo took off it toppled over on one side. In this one case, however, it looks like the net really saved the day.