Can they land a helicopter on the ship and exactly where?

[Jillpie]

It was just part of our dinner conversation last night, my DS16 was curious. In a medical emergency, we were trying to figure out where they would land it? At the basketball area?

 

[perdidobay]

My guess would be to cover the crew pool and land there. I don't know if the nets around the baskekball court will come down. But great question!

 

[WebmasterAlex]

Normally they would not land a helicopter for a medical emergency. They would lower a stokes basket down, the Coast guard helicopters have winches for that purpose.

 

[DarthKarl]

In general it is fairly dangerous to land a helicopter on a ship. As you can tell when you are onboard, the ship (read: landing pad) moves around making a safe landing very difficult. In fact you may notice that on most military ships with a helicopter pad they’ll actually use a winch to pull the helicopter down to the ship. Obviously not many civilian ships have the such equipment.

Therefore on nearly all helicopter/shipboard rescues, the Coast Guard will drop either a basket or a tether to move people onto and off a ship at sea.

 

[Jillpie]

Thanks Alex, that makes perfect sense. I'll let my son know tonight.

Nice guess perdidobay!

 

[Viking]

The Disney ships are not equipped to accommodate a helicopter. And I haven't heard about any events involving anyone being winched from one of the ships.
We had a medical emergency during one of our cruises. A crew-member suffered from acute appendicitis. The Magic was diverted to the next island with an airstrip, the crewmember was tendered over to that island and airlifted from there to the next hospital equipped for an appendectomy. We were later informed that everything went well.

 

[mausmu]

When I saw this thread, I thought of this clip. This would kind of put a damper on the Magic of a cruise.

Bad Helicopter landing on a ship

 

[Disney with Triplets]

A friend of mine was medivac'ed from a cruise ship (not DCL). She had an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured. The helicopter was dispatched from Miami and she was lifted from the ship in one of those "baskets". The area the evacuation was staged was cleared for about 15 minutes, if I remember correctly. Her husband had to spend the night on the ship and arranged for a charter back to Miami from the island the ship was scheduled to port at the next am.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

That would be the "normal" procedure Disney with Triplets. They certainly wouldn't normally risk more lives by hauling up family members. Most of the merchant seaman would know the procedure for hoisting a patient and they would be in radio contact with the helicopter