learn to fly – Helicopters – Landing on Ships

A Ships Helicopter Operational Limit (SHOL) diagram is a polar plot of acceptable relative wind speed and direction conditions determined safe to conduct helicopter flight operations from a ship’s deck. Other parameters such as sea state, pitch and roll are also considered in the decision to launch or recover a helicopter. Traditionally a printed-paper SHOL would be used and the commanding officer would have to manually plot wind information on the SHOL diagram, having collected data on ship’s motion and wind conditions from a variety of sources.