# Canadian navy pilot



## Just_A_Guy (4 Jan 2018)

what does a canadian helicopter pilot do on board a ship?


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## Baz (4 Jan 2018)

Sleep.
Eat.
Watch movies.
Ediited to add: I guess I have a dated answer... forgot plays Xbox and/or PS4


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## Oldgateboatdriver (4 Jan 2018)

Well, interestingly enough: He/She flies the helicopter. Which itself involves being in tactical command of the helicopter crew for any given mission - thus he/she has to gather the relevant information, come up with the plan and brief his/her crew on the next flight and making sure everybody gets the proper rest period and do the proper self- teaching training to stay up to date.


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## Baz (4 Jan 2018)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> Well, interestingly enough: He/She flies the helicopter. Which itself involves being in tactical command of the helicopter crew for any given mission - thus he/she has to gather the relevant information, come up with the plan and brief his/her crew on the next flight and making sure everybody gets the proper rest period and do the proper self- teaching training to stay up to date.



Actually, some of that is the crew commander, which isn't necessarily a pilot.


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## dapaterson (4 Jan 2018)

Baz said:
			
		

> Sleep.
> Eat.
> Watch movies.
> Ediited to add: I guess I have a dated answer... forgot plays Xbox and/or PS4



You left out: Drink coffee.


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## Pusser (5 Jan 2018)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> Well, interestingly enough: He/She flies the helicopter. Which itself involves being in tactical command of the helicopter crew for any given mission - thus he/she has to gather the relevant information, come up with the plan and brief his/her crew on the next flight and making sure everybody gets the proper rest period and do the proper self- teaching training to stay up to date.



You're assuming the helicopter works, which is a big assumption!  In the old days, the pilots were important to run the projector for movies in the Wardroom, but DVDs have left them largely unemployed.  I always found it interesting that the helicopter would be broken for most of a deployment, but fixed just in time for the aircrew to fly off as we returned from a deployment.  They also seemed to break down a lot while ashore in places like Hawaii, or is that just selective memory...


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## Baz (5 Jan 2018)

Pusser said:
			
		

> You're assuming the helicopter works, which is a big assumption!  In the old days, the pilots were important to run the projector for movies in the Wardroom, but DVDs have left them largely unemployed.  I always found it interesting that the helicopter would be broken for most of a deployment, but fixed just in time for the aircrew to fly off as we returned from a deployment.  They also seemed to break down a lot while ashore in places like Hawaii, or is that just selective memory...



Know you know why they get paid more then everybody else on the ship; it takes a lot of skill to pull off the things you mention, skills which are very valuable outside of the military.


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## SeaKingTacco (5 Jan 2018)

Pusser said:
			
		

> You're assuming the helicopter works, which is a big assumption!  In the old days, the pilots were important to run the projector for movies in the Wardroom, but DVDs have left them largely unemployed.  I always found it interesting that the helicopter would be broken for most of a deployment, but fixed just in time for the aircrew to fly off as we returned from a deployment.  They also seemed to break down a lot while ashore in places like Hawaii, or is that just selective memory...




In the old days, the Supply Department used to either lose our parts or order the wrong parts for our helicopter, on a fairly routine basis.

Of course, it could be just selective memory...


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## Oldgateboatdriver (5 Jan 2018)

In the old days, the recently "purple" supply departments using the new "unified' system screwed up a lot of orders.

I remember an order for a replacement gun barrel for the 5 inch gun on a IRO that resulted in a Centurion 105 mm L7 barrel showing up on the jetty. Would have been less funny if it hadn't been attached to the actual Centurion  ;D


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