A detailed consideration of the subject of the marine safety of helicopters leads naturally to the recognition that some helicopters are designed to be relatively “at home” on the water surface while some are not. In the former case, marine safety aspects will have a high degree of importance and priority from the commencement of the design, while in the latter, marine safety will be simply a matter of giving away as little payload as possible commensurate with obtaining a reasonable assurance of crew survival if a ditch takes place.

This paper sets out to consider some technical aspects of marine safety with both classes of craft.

In 1956 the Defence Research Board of Canada and Canadair Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation), agreed to sponsor jointly a study of V/STOL technology to determine the configuration of aircraft best suited to the support of ground forces. During the following year it was decided that for the transport role the tilt-wing/slipstream-deflection concept promises the best aircraft from the overall point of view. Subsequent analysis and flight experience have confirmed this, and have also demonstrated a high degree of compatibility between aircraft attributes and general requirements for support of surface forces.