The Key Facts of Helicopter-Ship Qualification Testing

The operations from helicopters on board ships are complex, as many operational aspects come together in a moving landing area and in close proximity towards obstacles. In general, the helicopter industry delivers a helicopter that has undergone elaborate test campaigns performed in order to demonstrate safe flight and to establish operational limitations. However, the full operational potential and limitations for helicopter-ship operations are considered national responsibility. For some reason, there are no regulations or standard procedures to conduct the required helicopter-ship qualification testing campaign, and consequently it strongly differs between countries the kind of interpretation is given. As it is assumed that each country aims for maximum operational flexibility of a particular helicopter-ship combination, with minimal expenses and without any concessions in flight safety, this paper attempts to summarize the key facts of helicopter-ship qualification testing. The key facts presented in this paper are based on the experience gained during multiple test campaigns with different ship and helicopter types, although the test results for the NH90 NFH will be focused on. So far, tremendous savings in time and expenses of helicopter-ship qualification test campaigns have been achieved in the Netherlands, whilst aided by a predictive software tool that eliminates subjective elements as much as possible in order to determine operational envelopes used for in-service conditions in a world-wide theater for many years to come.