David Learmount's assertion that helicopter pilots are "disturbingly willing to take risks" (Flight International, 22-28 October) was so absurd as to render any rejection or contradiction of it unworthy and unnecessary.
However, Alan Wright's understandable response to such an outrageous charge is given greater credence by your own evident lack of knowledge about modern helicopter operating techniques. The securing of helicopters on moving decks with strops is essentially the preserve of the Royal Navy. Civilian operators do not use, and do not need this facility, operating as they do to carefully defined limits of deck pitch, roll and heave.
When landing on fixed installations, even these considerations do not apply. The stopping and starting of rotors in high winds is not an option, and rotors' running refuelling is common practice.
Dick Whidborne Chief Executive British Helicopter Advisory Board Woking, Surrey, UK
It is unforgivable to isolate one or two incidents of ill judgement and take them as the standard, branding all helicopter pilots as risk takers.
Your assertion that best practice on a ship's helideck is to tether the aircraft and to stop rotors is inaccurate and misleading. The stopping and starting of rotors is governed by wind speed and gustiness, as above 50kt (92km/h) most articulated rotor heads will be difficult to control unless at flying RPM. It does not take much to achieve 50kt across a moving deck, so stopping rotors is very rare offshore.
David Warren Berkhamsted, UK
Source: Flight International
