Insane landing of helicopter onto ship in high seas

This video shows a landing conducted by a Prism Defence Test Pilot and Flight Test Engineer during development of Ship Helicopter Operating Limits for the Lynx Mark 90B helicopter onboard the KNUD RASMUSSEN class Offshore Patrol Vessel.

Prism Defence (www.prismdefence.com) specialise in Ship Helicopter Integration, and provides a wide range of services within this realm. In particular, Prism are responsible for the development of Ship Helicopter Operating Limits. This involves safely taking the helicopter to the edge of the envelope; that is, the point at which more extreme conditions would make the aircraft unsafe to fly.
The limits are based on a combination of environmental factors and ship motion. Operating helicopters onboard ships is extremely complex, due in part to the difficulty of landing a helicopter on a moving platform, but also due to numerous practical engineering issues.

Some amazing skills by the pilot here, what a landing !!
Not only is he waiting for the ship to be stable, but he also has to deal with the high winds that are rocking the helicopter.

What say you ATS ?

I would have needed new shorts !!

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

I'd fly with those guys any day!

That's some pretty awesome flying right there.

Thanks for posting the video.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

That's OK, I didn't need to keep my breakfast anyway after watching that video.......

Seriously though, that has to take some serious skill.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

What......

I almost threw up just now.

uhg I feel sick.

Balls of Titanium, Geeeez that was some very skillfull piloting

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

Not bad....

a barrel-roll would've been nice!

Once again "timing is everything" Just don't hurry and wait for your shot!

In honor of this pilot.... I just crapped myself.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

Holy balls.

Still, I guess it must have been easier to land that thing, given that the weight of the pilots nuts must have ROOTED that chopper to the deck the moment the wheels made contact with it!

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

meh, I have seen it better done with CGI.

Yeah, pretty amazing. However the guy standing on the deck has got some cojones as well ,standing there with the helicopter trying to land just above him. Yikes.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

I wonder if this was computer aided or pilot skill alone. Eventually computers will make landings like this an everyday event as the human factor is taken out of the fold.

originally posted by: SubTruth
a reply to: SecretKnowledge

I wonder if this was computer aided or pilot skill alone. Eventually computers will make landings like this an everyday event as the human factor is taken out of the fold.

Yeah, hopefully they don't forget to the enable the “pedestrian detection” option.

the helicopter has a "hook" in her belly bottom?.

originally posted by: drwire
the helicopter has a "hook" in her belly bottom?.

No!
As mentioned earlier:

the weight of the pilots nuts must have ROOTED that chopper to the deck

would a catch net not be easier.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge
That pilot does have nerve, and it's an excellent, well-timed landing.

But, if you really want to try your nerves of steel, get on a ship like that that's bouncing up and down in high seas, and have a crane operator try to lower a personnel carrier so you can step onto it. The timing has to be perfect and even if it is, you have a good chance of missing the carrier when you try to step on it if the ship suddenly dips down due to the seas and the carrier is suddenly way above the ship.

It's basically just a big donut-shaped ring you stand on with some ropes connecting it to the crane, and you try to hold on for dear life while you get transferred from the ship in high winds (I know it takes nerves, I've done it):

Test your nerves


The seas aren't even high in that video so I don't know why the crane operator has such a problem, maybe high winds? But usually the two go together. If you didn't get seasick from the boat ride, that crane ride might do the trick.

Holy #balls.... IMO i think it looked a lot worse from the ship side video than the helo.
I need clean undies from watching that.

Wow that pilot has skills, gigantic shiny brass balls too

Awesome! I don't know how long he was planning on staying but I believe the helicopter would have been a smoother ride than that ship.

I imagine you'd have to have the brakes already locked before you land on a ship like that right?
Once it hit the deck it didn't budge an inch.