01 December 2011

UK In Action: Night Carrier Ops




Pictured through an image intensifier, a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter from No.7 Squadron lifts off from the deck of HMS Illustrious during night flying operations with Apache helicopters in the foreground. Two Apache helicopters from 664 Squadron, Army Air Corps have also embarked for a two week training package, to enable pilots and ground crews to acclimatise to working in a maritime environment. They were joined by a Chinook from 7 Squadron, Royal Air Force which flew out to the ship for a few hours deck landing practice. the flying continued well into the night as well.


img from UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

1 comment:

besilarius said...

carrier ops at night are beautiful and so cool.
Flight ops at night can be pretty amazing.
Once saw an SH3 helo getting ready to dip it's sonar when it suddenly stopped at around eighty feet altitude.
I was about to wonder out loud what they were doing when an S-2 Tracker flew under the helo, probably searching with their Magnetic Anamoly Detector (MAD).
Don't know how the helo pilots felt, but it sure scared the piss out of me.