Swedish Helicopter Wing training by landing on icebreakers
"Relative wind port twenty degrees, fifteen knots. Ready for landing!" The master of the icebreaker Atle give landing clearance to the helicopter K39 while the Atle worthy is breaking the ice to free a frozen cargo ship from Latvia.
Helicopter crews from the Swedish Armed Forces development unit are carrying out an operational evaluation of the AgustaWestland AW109, known locally as the Hkp 15. The work is preparing the aircraft not only to work from the flight decks of warships but commercial vessels too.
'Landing on civilian vessels differs from landing on warships and when introducing any new vessel, we must explore the possibilities of landing. Warships are usually certified and audited for obstacle clearance and turbulence,' said Captain Kenneth Olsson from the Helicopter Wing.
The Swedish Air Combat School is flying the Opeval missions with the Helicopter Wing, which in turn helps with helicopters and personnel. The activity is led by thge squadron tactics development division based at Linköping in. Pilots who will deploy on the next operation ME-02 in the Gulf of Aden are participating in the tests and get the bonus of carrying out many vessel training landings.
The crew of the Atle has kindly set up the drill ship, despite the hectic situation in the northern Baltic. The ship has zigzagged across the Gulf of Bothnia to help ships stuck in the ice. This has provided useful training demanding that the helicopter crews use any system to locate Atle before each flight.
The next set of tests will involve the Swedish Navy ship HMS Visby.
Source: Swedish Armed Forces Press Release - Translated from Swedish
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