AFM AIR WING DECK LANDING QUALIFICATION TRAINING ON FFG49, USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY

Air Wing Vessel Deck Helicopter Landings

The training being conducted by the AFMs Air Wing with the assistance of other military forces in helicopter deck landing operations is to allow our crew to gain experience in operating off of surface vessels which will eventually lead to operations being conducted in conjunction with Maritime Squadrons P-61 long range patrol boat.

While AFM helicopter pilots have landed aircraft on vessels at sea in the past, this has mainly been done to facilitate a rescue or recovery operation at sea and by nature is quite a dangerous mission. The training currently being conducted is aimed at giving all flight crews and not only the pilots a basis of understanding the factors involved in operating on surface vessels in order to perfect operational procedures and increase safety margins.

The Alouette III helicopter operated by the Air Wing is the units main rescue platform but is regularly used to perform such missions as searches, medical evacuations from ships at sea, and air ambulance missions between the islands hospitals. The aircraft is normally operated by a single pilot and assisted during a sortie by a senior aircraft technician who acts as a second pair of eyes for the pilot and also operates the aircrafts winch during rescue operations.

The training carried out thus far with the US Navys USS Robert G. Bradley in April and now with the German Navy FGS Danau has allowed all the flight crews to build up experience and a knowledge base in deck landing operations with many of the crews logging as much as 20 landings on deck during a single sortie.

For training purposes the helicopter will make an approach onto the vessels helicopter deck and then hover at varying altitudes over the deck allowing the pilot to pick up visual reference points. The pilot will then allow the helicopter to settle onto the deck with specific height information provided by the technician on board the aircraft. Once the aircraft has landed on the deck, the pilot will again take off, but instead of flying away, he will perform the same have to landing sequence referred to by aircrew as Bounces. Normally, 3 to 6 bounces are performed by the pilot for every training approach made to the vessel.

The crew coordination required during such manoeuvres is high and the experience garnered during this training will surely pay off once deck landing operations commence on the P-61 both with the current Alouette III helicopter and any other type that will eventually replace it.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• AFM
• FAM
• A.F.M.
• F.A.M.
• Armed Forces
• Malta
• Maltin
• Maltese Military
• FFG49
• USS Robert G. Bradley
• Alouette
• helicopter
• DLQ
• DLQs

[aldoud1]

hi a good vidéo. pilot wing helicopter of malta on alouette 3 thanks

[neils12]

kont bid-daghjsa dak inhar u rajthom mil-boghod ,, nice flying !