These are the moments when a daring aerial rescue took place in the north east.
The hour-long operation off the coast of Whitehills involved three lifeboat crews from Fraserburgh, Macduff and Buckie.
But there were no casualties.
The Coastguard’s rescue helicopter had been called out to help the volunteer crews simulate real-life scenarios during a day of extensive testing.
Mike Rawlins was one of those aboard Macduff RNLI’s lifeboat and said later that the experience had been worthwhile for the whole team.
Six crew members took part in the life-saving exercises with the Bond-951 above their head – as they practiced winching to and from the boats.
The three vessels converged, two-and-a-half miles out at sea for the training, which also included crew transfers, passing stretchers between lifeboats and towing practice.
Mr Rawlins said: “It was a successful exercise. We had the SAR Bond-951 there and they performed a number of winches up with each of the three vessels.
“We did that – down and up – for 20 minutes and then they did the same thing with the Buckie boat and then the Fraserburgh boat.”
He added: “It is all about training, we have to train for every eventuality. Today was quite a good day, there was calm seas. A lot of our crew had no [previous] helicopter experience.
“Being right under a helicopter is a totally different ball game. It was six-and-a-half hours training. I think everybody is very happy with what we gained today.”
The exercise formed part of the volunteers’ regular training programme.
A similar drill was carried out in November last year when the crews completed a remarkable 12 air rescues.
At the time, the coxswain of the Fraserburgh lifeboat, Victor Sutherland, said it would be “ideal” to carry out more simulations.
He added: “Ideally, we want to get a couple of exercises every year but it’s not always achievable due to operational requirements – obviously we’re on call and the chopper’s on call.
“But it’s good for the two organisations to work hand in hand.”