Questions about helo operations from CG, DDG, FFG

[Peter O]

I'm just finishing my 1/700 Dragon USS Monterey, and I have a few questions about helicopter operations.

1) When a helo is folded up and placed in the hangar, is it put in nose first or tail first?

2) I assume the netting around the helipad is raised most of the time. At what point is it lowered? Immediately before launch or recovery? Whenever a helo is on the pad, even when it's shut down? For that matter, is a helo ever left on the helipad while shut down, or is it always immediately moved into the hangar?

3) On early Arleigh Burkes with no hangar, are helos ever left on the helipad, or do they return to hangared ships?

Thanks for helping this landlubber! I'm a former USAF aircraft maintainer, so I want to get the whirly details right.

Peter

[Francisco P. de Nanclares]

I'm just finishing my 1/700 Dragon USS Monterey, and I have a few questions about helicopter operations.

1) When a helo is folded up and placed in the hangar, is it put in nose first or tail first?

2) I assume the netting around the helipad is raised most of the time. At what point is it lowered? Immediately before launch or recovery? Whenever a helo is on the pad, even when it's shut down? For that matter, is a helo ever left on the helipad while shut down, or is it always immediately moved into the hangar?

3) On early Arleigh Burkes with no hangar, are helos ever left on the helipad, or do they return to hangared ships?

Thanks for helping this landlubber! I'm a former USAF aircraft maintainer, so I want to get the whirly details right.

Peter

Helos are always pulled into the hangar nose first. The netting is lowered whenever the ship is at flight ops to launch, recover or handle a helo and air company is to be working on the flight deck. Corrosion is an issue, and a serious one at that, so helos are usually kept inside, and moved to the flight deck when they are going to fly,since maintenance is carried out inside. Ships lacking a hangar usually handle helicopters for delivering/picking up something or somebody, leaving afterwards, but not staying there, for the same reason.

That�s my experience anyways, so hope this helps.

Cheers.
Pachi.

[Peter O]

Thanks very much for your insights!

Peter

[Paul O'Reilly]

Peter,

Q 1. In almost every case the helo is placed in the hangar nose first. The only variance I'm aware of is on the early Spruance class ships that sometimes carried two SH2 Seasprite helos. I that case, one helo went in nose first and the other tail first as both couldn't fit if they were both nose first.

Q 2. The flight deck nets were lowered at sea unless there was going to be some ship-to-ship operation or some other drill requiring the nets to be up. Even if the ship's helo was not flying the ship still had to have the helo on alert (normally 30 minutes) so the nets were left down. Also, if another ship in the task force (helo fitted ship) was flying their helo then our ship left the nets down in the event of an emergency requiring immediate recovery on our ship. If the ship's own helo was not flying then it was put in the hangar to free up the flight deck for other operations and provide a ready deck for other helos. The helo would be left on deck for ready alerts, i.e. 5 min alert or 15 min alert, and often with the blades spread to facilitate a rapid launch. The helo would be aligned along the fore and aft axis of the ship.

Q. 3. While shut-downs on other ships are done from time to time the standard policy is to return to one's parent ship for overnight delays. The problem with shutting down on another ship is corrosion control and lack of maintenance facilities in the event the helo won't start. Plus it ties up the flight deck if another helo wants to come in for some other type of business. If on another ship one usually aligned the helo along the line-up line, that is pointed off to one side, unless the line up is itself aligned with the ships axis.

I stopped operational flying in 1990 so the policies may have changed, but I doubt they have. The policy is the same in the Canadian Navy (except for the line up issues as they always land fore and aft) and I believe in the Royal Navy, too.

Paul O'Reilly
Former helo driver

[Seasick]

Sea water is murder on the materials that helecoptors and aircraft are made of.

[Peter O]

Thanks, Paul, that's very helpful. I'm glad I did my aircraft maintenance in the AF... I'd hate to try working in a ship's hangar with two Seasprites! (That's not to say that FB-111s were a picnic to work on under any conditions...)

Incidentally, I've found that on my Dragon Monterey CG-61, the Seahawk won't fit into the hangar, even with the tail folded. Apparently the hangar goes all the way to the forward end of the superstructure, but the hangar interior part does not. I should've test-fitted it before I assembled it.

Peter

[Devin]

One thing to remember about helos on CG's, etc. is that they are not ALWAYS onboard. Or at least they were not when I served in the mid-90's. If we were in home waters and not forward deployed, then we did not have a helo detachment aboard. The helo detachment is assigned to a particular ship, but they are not a part of the crew. My ship, the USS Normandy (CG-60) was stationed out of Staten Island, New York, and our Helo detachment (can't remember their designation, but they were called The Overlords, after Operation Overlord) was stationed out of Jacksonville, Florida.

With that out of the way, it was very rare on the Normandy that both birds would be in the hangar at the same time. The reason was that one bird was "on duty" and the other was being worked on. As has been stated, those hangars are very small and if both birds are in there, it's hard to get around and do anything, much less remove components for maintenance and repair. One bird would be in the hangar, the other would be in "ready" position out on the flight deck, chained down. Yes, sea salt is murder on aircraft, but that doesn't stop the carriers from keeping their air group on deck most of the time. There simply isn't space aboard ships to keep aircraft under cover at all times.

The flight deck netting, as has been stated, was always down, in port and out, unless there was a reason to have it up for maintenance, etc. If put vertical for underway replenishments, then only the side we were going alongside the tanker would have the netting raised, unless, of course, we were taking a line across to our flight deck for stores transfer.

I wasn't in a helo detachment, but I did work on the AEGIS radars. Every day I'd go up and down the ladder in the hangar several times on my way to and from the aft radar room that is just above the hangar. Any time both birds were in the hangar it was very very obvious, intrusive, and we'd always know that the ship expected bad weather within a short period of time.

-Devin

[Seasick]

I was told once that many Navy aircraft were covered with patches on the bottom because of decay.

[Francisco P. de Nanclares]

Peter,

Q 2. The flight deck nets were lowered at sea unless there was going to be some ship-to-ship operation or some other drill requiring the nets to be up.
Paul O'Reilly
Former helo driver

I stand corrected. Paul is spot on here, be it the Canadian or the Spanish Navy, because it is exactly this way. As Paul, I used to drive helos, but mainly from the carrier, thus my confusion here.

Cheers.
Pachi.