Pilot boarding by helicopter in Hay Point, Australia

KITTIWAKE ( MMSI 232008570) is a Pilot and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom (UK) Here she is speeding down the River this morning.

The pilot for the port of Cairns jumping off the pilot boat and getting onto the cruise ship. 
Carnival Luminosa December 2024 

London Pilots (PLA) have issued an excellent quick reference guide for Pilot Transfer arrangements, which can be used for pilots as well as ship’s crews. Please take not of this document and if you can, try to incorporate it into your procedures.

Pilot boat L243

Watch as a pilot boat approaches and picks up the pilot after escorting the carnival dream from the harbor in Freeport Bahamas

When I was a deck officer back in the early nineties I worked on a ship that used to load grain at different ports along the Mississippi river. The name of the ship was Golden Hope, a 600 feet long dry bulk carrier with a 95 feet in beam. An average size vessel for those days' standards.