Thread: These guys are either crazy or damn good pilots or both!

Just a matter of waiting for the ship to stop having its hissy fit and going for it

I remember being in a Seahawk and landing on one of our ships in similar seas. It gives you even more faith in the amazing ability of Navy pilots.

Think about those who landed fixed wing aircraft on very small carriers in rough seas during WW2. I'm thinking for example of the hunt for the Bismark, when I seem to remember reading of Swordfish being flown off the Ark Royal in conditions that the experts considered impossible - and some of them got back and landed successfully in similar conditions.

Originally Posted by rocket scientist

I remember being in a Seahawk and landing on one of our ships in similar seas. It gives you even more faith in the amazing ability of Navy pilots.

Same!!

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Think about those who landed fixed wing aircraft on very small carriers in rough seas during WW2. I'm thinking for example of the hunt for the Bismark, when I seem to remember reading of Swordfish being flown off the Ark Royal in conditions that the experts considered impossible - and some of them got back and landed successfully in similar conditions.

*some* of them got back.

I remember reading (somewhere) about poor blokes in WW2 willingly taking off from the carrier to try to find and sick ships/subs - knowing that they were operating on the very edge of their fuel range, and the chances of them getting back to the carrier were slim and the chances of getting picked up if you ditched in the sea were zero.

Yes - there were definitely other issues, but the subject was landing on in severe sea conditions.

In a similar thought, consider the RAF pilots who flew their Spitfires (or Hurricanes, can't remember which) onto a carrier during the evacuation of Norway, despite never having landed on a carrier before, and with no arrester gear. (The carrier was torpedoed a few days later and few of the pilots survived)

Yes, there is certainly a lot of training and skill shown by that helicopter pilot.

My buddy was a USN pilot back during the 1st Gulf War, and once told me that you don't know hard until you try landing an F-18 on a blacked out aircraft carrier in rough seas at night....