Helicopters land on HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time

Maritime February 6, 2018

Chinook helicopters have landed on board HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time as the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier heads to sea on her next round of trials.

The UK’s future flagship set sail from Portsmouth for the first time since being officially commissioned into the Royal Navy in December. She will be launching her first helicopter trials at sea.

Two Chinooks from the Aircraft Test and Evaluation facility at MOD Boscombe Down arrived on board as the carrier prepared to sail. The ship will be joined later by two Merlin Mk2 aircraft, with all four aircraft carrying specialist testing equipment.

The trials seek to establish the conditions that the aircraft can operate in while at sea on the carrier. They will collect data about the landings, take-offs and manoeuvres in different wind and sea conditions, before processing the information and ultimately declaring that the ship can safely operate the aircraft.

These helicopter trials take place before the fixed wing F35 Lightning II trials later this year. Ultimately the carrier will be declared safe to fly Chinook, Merlin Mk2, Merlin Mk3, Merlin Mk4, Wildcat and Apache attack helicopters, as well as the fast jets.

Captain Jerry Kyd, the Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, said: “After the excitement of our commissioning ceremony in December, my ship’s company and our industry partners are looking forward to taking the ship to sea to conduct first of class rotary wing flying trials.

“These trials will involve operating different types of helicopter from the ship in all weather conditions and fully testing the myriad of on board systems that are designed to support aviation. This is an important milestone in the ship’s progression towards embarking the F35-B Lightning jets later this year, and ultimately the achievement of carrier strike capability.”