Taking off/landing on a moving ship

[jackwrangham]

Hi Everyone

Anyone ever flown from a moving ship? We have a job based on a cruise ship coming up and we'd like to get some shots whilst sailing. The thing im trying to work out is taking off and landing whilst the ship is moving - I think i'll have to get moving straight away to keep pace, take off should be ok, but landing the system will be at an angle, landing on the flat surface could be difficult! Ship could be doing 20-25mph

Does anyone have any experience with this? Catching probably isn't an option as we fly an x8 config... could use the s900 but it might not have enough power!

Cheers!

 

[Carapau]

Hi Jack, never done it but I suspect that if you land slowly in Atti mode, as the aircraft touches skid tip first, the boat will start to 'take over' driving the aircraft forward. This will then allow you to slowly decrease throttle and allow the aircraft to level. Admittedly that is nothing more than a Scientific Wild Arsed Guess so it will be interesting to see what others say here who have hopefully direct experience.

 

[eskil23]

Why not try something like the Beartrap device (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beartrap_(hauldown_device))?
A string about 4 feet long hanging down from the airframe. Just grab it and pull it in.

 

[scotth]

Compass cal could be an issue with all that steel?

 

[JoeBob]

It's all relative.
I'm sure you know to disable all your GPS and compass navigation goodies.
Then it's all wind related. Don't land on the bow, where you'll have a head wind on a calm day, land behind some large structure in dead airspace.

 

[Carapau]

land behind some large structure in dead airspace.

Not necessarily a good idea due to wind rota and turbulence. With regards to this you are almost better landing on the bow where the wind is likely to be consistent and thus can take account of.

 

[eskil23]

Not necessarily a good idea due to wind rota and turbulence. With regards to this you are almost better landing on the bow where the wind is likely to be consistent and thus can take account of.

Well, the best is off course to land at the stern when she ship is steaming with tailwind. That way the speed of the ship and the windspeed cancel eachother. That's why most navy ships have their helipad at the stern.

 

[Carapau]

Actually a heli benefits from having a headwind- it has more lift that way. Have a look at translational lift. Also a full sized heli is affected less by the turbulence coming of the back of a big structure than one of our multirotors. There are numerous other reasons for having the pad at the back of a ship. In tight spaces a heli pilot may take off backwards so that if there is an engine failure he can dip the nose and then autorotate in. That would be hard to do if the heli was in the middle or the front of a ship.

 

[jackwrangham]

Cheers for the input everyone. Hmm got to say I agree with you Angus - a head wind isnt a problem as long as its consistant and predictable, its more the movement of the ship that im thinking about. The front of the ship is best for safety in any case - we can fly from the captains deck where the public cant access, there's also quite a lot of nice, flat space.

Like the beartrap idea! However I think the hardest part is going to be 1-2m from landing and I wouldnt like someone to be underneath with a rope!

Scotth - yes compass cal could be an issue - will calibrate on land before-hand, thats usually ok (flown from ships before - just not moving!) and will most likely be in atti most of the time.

 

[scotth]

Steaming at 20kts into a 20kt headwind... you may be bidding farewell to your copter. Bring an anemometer!