Hey, sea dogs, this looks like fun.

[popper]

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

[**oneshot**]

Nerves of steel, a steady hand, and tremendous pucker factor!!!!!!!

[w5pv]

God bless our troops inspite of "o"

[CastingFool]

I was a crewchief on a UH-1H, that landing wouldn't have been fun.

[Mk42gunner]

My second ship was a Knox class FF that deployed with an air-det that had one helo. That cured me of ever willingly volunteering to take a ride in a helicopter. It seemed like at least 50% of the time the bird would take off and then have to land suddenly because of a warning light that there were chips in the hydraulic system, this happened often enough that the unofficial callsign among the crew was "Chip Light one three" instead of "whatever it was 1-3."

I do believe that helo pilots that routinely land on small boys are the best in the world; even better than carrier pilots. At least with the jets you either catch a wire or not; the helo has to wait for the right moment to fly into the deck, and hold it there while being chocked and chained into place.

Robert

[2wheelDuke]

That was an intense landing. I had to look at the Youtube comments to learn more. That was a test landing on a Danish patrol vessel. There's a hydraulic probe that reaches down and hooks a metal grid in the middle of the helipad to hold it firm after landing.

I grew up towards the end of the Cold War, and was fascinated by naval aviation. I remember reading that NATO helicopters could drop a cable and winch themselves down to land on pitching decks in the North Atlantic. I read up on that today and found out that the Canadians actually invented the technique.

[Ed Barrett]

In the early 60's the U.S. Navy DASH program ( Drone Anti Submarine Helicopter) used the cable method to land on ships. It would hover over the landing area on a ship and drop a cable which would be attached to a drum below the deck the drone would be put at 3/4 power and the drum would always win. We used to joke about the drone pilots, if you washed out of fixed wing and washed out of rotary wing then you either a blimp pilot or a DASH pilot.

[Plate plinker]

Yikes that ship was a Rollin.

[Mtnfolk75]

Did a Med cruise on the USS Jesse L. Brown (DE-1089) ( a Knox Class Destroyer Escort that was later re-classed a Fast Frigate ) with a LAMPS Detachment in 1974, saw lots of landings like that. I was on the Pre-Comm Crew starting 01Jan73, rode her until 15May75. Went from the JLB to the Pre-Comm Crew for the USS Kinkaid (DD-965), rode her until 01Jun78 when I went to Shore Duty at NAB Coronado. It was a fun ride for a young sailor ......

[Bad Water Bill]

Yikes that ship was a Rollin.

You should see just what rough seas are.

I still have film of waves breaking OVER the flight deck of the USS Forestall and the USS Randolph in the North Atlantic IIRC March 1958.

You do not have enough money to get me on a tin can on that trip.

[popper]

I was on a heavy cruiser (CAG2), watched the tin cans while refueling. See the prop , then can't see the stack. We took some serious water that knocked down the chief in the super deck doorway, behind the 2 8" turrets. I have a pic of her taking a 45 deg roll coming through Gibraltar. Topside rolls aren't too bad, it's the guys 4 decks down that have the problem. I really wanted to be on a DLG like the Bainbridge.

[MtGun44]

The daughter of a good friend is a helo pilot for US Navy and operates off of frigates and cruisers in
the western Pacific. Same stuff, different airframe and hull, but no easier.

Brave and talented youngsters, doing amazing things. Bravo Zulu to them all.

Bill

[MaryB]

I have seen Lake Superior that rough. Just before it got that bad we ran for the Apostle Islands in my brother in laws 35 foot sailboat and get into a sheltered spot. Still had to keep a watch all the time because the waves were curling around the island and would drag your anchor.

[freebullet]

I've been on nastier water in a smaller boat but I never landed an aircraft on it lol. Thank you to those that have & do in our services.

[Bad Water Bill]

At one time the great lakes accounted for more tonnage loss than all of the oceans combined.

When I got out of the Navy the tin cab squadron that had accompanied us to the north Atlantic and the med pulled into Chiraq for a visit.

When I talked to them they all agreed that the great lakes are far rougher than sailing on the briny deep.

[Capn Jack]

Urrrp...Barf !! Excuse me... May all of your landings be safe ones....

[Mk42gunner]

I was one of the lucky ones that never got seasick.

I may be just a touch sadistic; but when weather like in that video came around, it was time to break out the green cigars and open a can of sardines...

We also used to send people that were susceptible up into the gun pocket (where the rear part of the slide and barrel go when the muzzle is elevated) to clean the leaking hydraulic fluid. Lets see-- Enclosed space, heat, still air, the stench of hydraulic fluid and cleaning solvent. Nobody ever actually barfed in there, but a few did make a rather hurried trip to the head.

I was stationed on an Adams class DDG, a Knox class FF, an ATS (salvage and recovery, also known as a junk-boat) and a Whidbey Island class LSD. The LSD was the biggest by far, and it also rode the worst, even ballasted down.

Fond memories,

Robert

[WRideout]

In the early 60's the U.S. Navy DASH program ( Drone Anti Submarine Helicopter) used the cable method to land on ships. It would hover over the landing area on a ship and drop a cable which would be attached to a drum below the deck the drone would be put at 3/4 power and the drum would always win. We used to joke about the drone pilots, if you washed out of fixed wing and washed out of rotary wing then you either a blimp pilot or a DASH pilot.

When I was a youngster living next to Port Hueneme, CA, we used to go to the harbor and visit the USS Norton Sound, which was the vessel used to experiment with those drones. On public days when they had visitors, they used to get out their arsenal of repel-boarding weapons. I think they had a couple of M1 Garands, and a 45. When I came of age, I joined the Army, mostly because I had seen too many sailors in my life (also a longer comittment time.
Wayne

[trapper9260]

My first ship I was on the USS Siapan LHA-2 and that is our job to carry the helos and jump jets and not count the the landing craft been in the north atlantic and bad seas it is something else to have a office desk slid from one side of the room to the other.I seen on ships TV of how the jump jets land they just drop on the flight deck. I seen how the FF and tins when we where in the bad seas .