Many small ships are equipped with helipads that may be used by small helicopters such as the Hughes 269/Schwiezer 300/Sikorsky S300, Robinson R22 or R44, Bell JetRanger, or Hughes/Mcdonnel Douglas 500. I’ve never landed on a ship, but as a licensed rotorhead I’m wondering: How do they secure the rotors?
See, little helicopters aren’t extremely robust. Most of the ‘stiffness’ of rotor blades comes from their rotation anyway. ISTM that having non-rotating blades on a shipborne helicopter might risk damage. I saw an episode of that anti-whaling show, where the pilot is shown removing the main rotor blades from a Hughes/Schweizer that was kept in a hangar adjacent to the helipad. That’s one way to avoid damage from a pitching and rolling vessel. But how common is it to remove the rotor blades? (Note: Yes, I know that larger helicopters often have folding blades.) If the blades are not removed, how to they keep them from excessive movement? Support frames? I’ve never seen one on a ship (only on trailers). Do they simply tie the tips down?
When the question arose in my head the first time (it’s been popping up since I learned to fly the things), that was my assumption. Where I rented, the rotor blades were not tied down. When I’ve seen tied-down blades, it’s generally only one of them. (Sometimes two, on a Schweizer.) I can see tying down both/all three blades on a ship, and I can see that it would prevent most undue flexing. But I can imagine very rough seas where, even though the blades are tied down and under tension, they can flex even more and then snap back.
I saw a chopper with each wing tied down on a yacht in the East River. It gets fairly windy there. I didn’t recognize the model, similar to an R-22, but I don’t think it had the tall tower. It was a while back but I kind of remember it having 3 blades, but I don’t know of any craft that small with a 3 blade rotor.
I know this isn’t a small helicopter, at all, but it seems like this would work just fine on small helicopter. The entire aircraft is lashed to the boat deck and the each propeller wing has a rope going from it (or a sheath over it) to the body of the helicopter.
On the one hand, that seems pretty easy for one person to do on a small helicopter. OTOH, look at picture in the OP. You can’t even reach the ends of the wings. They’re probably too high without a step ladder and they’re off the edge of the boat. (But now that I look at it again, I’m not sure that that’s part of the boat or a deck behind it).
On Paul Allen’s yacht “Octopus”, that’s exactly what they do. Look at the EC-145 at the bow- its rotor tips are tied down just like that Coast Guard Dauphin upthread.
I would just like to say that my new goal in life is to be so rich that when people are talking about the helicopter on my yacht, they have to clarify whether they mean the one on the bow or the stern.
