Helicopter Landing at Sea

[PCBeachBum]

The pucker factor must have been high.

Welcome aboard sailor!


https://www.youtube.com/embed/bC2XIGMI2kM

[ARtraveler]

Not for the unskilled or the faint of heart. Riding along, would require a lot of trust in the pilot. :2thumbs::2thumbs:

[Professor]

And I thought ryding the Spyder was exciting. :spyder:

[Chupaca]

maybe just me but I don't think he could see the flagman till he was two foot off deck...:yikes: great skills...:2thumbs:

[PCBeachBum]

I was a Boatswain's Mate on a Gearing Class Destroyer and the flagman for landings, refueling, personnel and mail details. Those Helo pilots were amazing and very skilled in all types of weather conditions. I remember a call from the carrier Bon Homme Richard (Bonnie Dick) while avoiding a typhoon but still in the soup, asking us how many seas sick pills we had? They were told they could have all we have and sent a helo over to pick them up. The pilot kept that helo over our fantail while dropping a net, so we could fill it with the boxes and once in the air, the pilot moved away from the ship.

Looking over at the Bonnie Dick, she looked very stable a calm in the seas compared to the Tin Can I was on but, than being a Tin Can sailor the rolling and up and down motion didn't bother us and I actually had a harder time walking on solid ground than on the decks and still do.

[ARtraveler]

maybe just me but I don't think he could see the flagman till he was two foot off deck...:yikes: great skills...:2thumbs:

As I was watching the landing from inside the chopper, I was using the cross rail on the ship as a horizon indicator to verify the position of the deck.

I know its wrong, but that is why I don't fly or land helicopters. :roflblack::roflblack:

[PCBeachBum]

maybe just me but I don't think he could see the flagman till he was two foot off deck...:yikes: great skills...:2thumbs:

The co-pilot and doorman help out the pilot in all situations. Keeping the rotors away from the super structure is the pilots biggest concern.:thumbup:

[cuznjohn]

that guy was good and just waited for the right wave

[M109Dreamer]

maybe just me but I don't think he could see the flagman till he was two foot off deck...:yikes: great skills...:2thumbs:
They don't really use them. They take all of the clearance calls from the Crewchief in the back looking out the sides. Atleast the Army doesnt anyways. The ones in the helicopter tend to have a bit more to loose than the guy on the ground or deck.

[Professor]

I was a Boatswain's Mate on a Gearing Class Destroyer and the flagman for landings, refueling, personnel and mail details. Those Helo pilots were amazing and very skilled in all types of weather conditions. I remember a call from the carrier Bon Homme Richard (Bonnie Dick) while avoiding a typhoon but still in the soup, asking us how many seas sick pills we had? They were told they could have all we have and sent a helo over to pick them up. The pilot kept that helo over our fantail while dropping a net, so we could fill it with the boxes and once in the air, the pilot moved away from the ship.

Looking over at the Bonnie Dick, she looked very stable a calm in the seas compared to the Tin Can I was on but, than being a Tin Can sailor the rolling and up and down motion didn't bother us and I actually had a harder time walking on solid ground than on the decks and still do.
Ah memories! Once you develop your sea legs, going ashore feels pretty strange.

[flaggerphil]

What type of ship was that?

I've flown on an SH-2 Sea Sprite taking off and landing on a Knox class frigate (USS Kirk), but nothing that small in seas that rough!

[Oldmanzues]

Never was in the Navy, but would much rather watch that landing from desk chair in my house, then to have been on that chopper.
the new(?) Navy ships look so strange to my old eyes. Not like the 1050/80's
Oldmanzues

[PCBeachBum]

Ah memories! Once you develop your sea legs, going ashore feels pretty strange.

Having sea legs came in handy ashore on those nights when I had one, two to many. :thumbup:

[Professor]

Having sea legs came in handy ashore on those nights when I had one, two to many. :thumbup:
Unfortunately, I know exactly what you mean. ;)

[PCBeachBum]

What type of ship was that?

I've flown on an SH-2 Sea Sprite taking off and landing on a Knox class frigate (USS Kirk), but nothing that small in seas that rough!

Gearing Class came from the Sumner Class. Most of the Gearing class keels were laid during WW2 being commissioned in the early to mid 40s and the rest weren't completed till after the war in the 1950's. They were 390' long and 40' at the Beam, twin screws, 4 boilers with a max speed of about 38 knots. I do remember the Fletcher Class and we were often moored alongside the USS Nicholas DD 449 in Pearl Harbor, along Bravo Pier. The Nicholas although older was a fast ship and coming back to Pearl, after a tour in Vietnam and leaving Midway Island after refueling, the race was on! Bringing up all 4 boilers the Nicholas left the rest of us in their wake. There was no catching it and at 35 knots it was still pulling away and than main control would have a problem and back down to 20 to 25 knots was the max and the Nicholas was gone, out of sight.

In the late 50s and to mid 60s the Gearing class went through a FRAM (Fleet Rehabilitation and Maintenance) removing the WW2 armaments and adding port and starboard torpedo, 3 tubes forward below the bridge and an 8 tube ASROC launcher and magazine amidships. The flight deck was longer and wider and the gun mount on the now torpedo deck was removed, leaving twin 5" 38 gun mounts forward and aft.

Most were decommissioned before and after the Vietnam War. Many were sold to countries like Turkey and Pakistan and the one I was on (USS Epperson DD719) was bought by Pakistan and used for another 20 plus years after, being used by the US Naval Reserves and decommissioned in 1976.

I know of only two Gearing Class DD's remaining. The USS Joseph P. Kennedy in Fall River, MA and USS Orleck in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In 1997 while on vacation, I went to Battleship Cove in Fall River MA where the USS Massachusetts, Submarine Lionfish and JPK are used as museums. I only cared about seeing the JPK and walking the decks one more time brought back a lot of memories.

During that storm with the Bonnie Dick, a Knox Class DE was steaming with us and between us and the Bonnie Dick and like us taking a lot of big waves. One day while riding out what was left of this storm, the Captain wanted a roll and said hey Boat's? Give me your best roll! Taking over the helm, I spun the helm and rudders hard right, than hard Left, back to hard Right and than to amidships and waited. The ship rolled and 4 decks below us was the mess decks where at the time lunch was being served up. The Captain wanted the bridge door open and we could hear the metal trays crashing on the deck and yells of who the :cus: is driving this thing??? I didn't see it and was holding on to the helm, but the Quartermaster and OOD recorded a 43 degree roll in the log, which is insane. Above the mess decks was the wardroom where the officers ate and if soup was being served, they were wearing it. The bridge heard from all departments including the XO who was at the time of the roll in his stateroom picking himself up off the deck and was going to write me up after giving me an ear full, when he heard the Captain laughing and say XO? Collins was following orders and to write Me up, if you dare!

A shipmate from TX who shipped over for another 6 was transferred to a Knox Class and the next time I talk to him, I'll have to ask him which he preferred. A twin screw Gearing or Single screw Knox Class. Owning a boat today, there are times when I wish I had twin engines, when getting into and out of tight moorings with other boats in front and behind mine.

I was on active duty from Jan. 1969 to Nov. 1972.

[Professor]

I was an ET (that's Electronic Technician - not Extra Terrestrial) on the USS Klondike AR-22. It was a WWII repair ship equipped that had been decommissioned then recommissioned for the Viet Nam war. We had pretty much everything you can think of to repair the problems of other ships - carpentry, electrical, electric motor rewind, heavy machine shop, welders, electronics, etc. etc. My specialty was radar and navigation equipment. Our main navigational device was LORAN which was somewhere between using the stars and GPS. I was aboard her from January 1964 to January 1968.