the present invention turning now to fig5 a ship based elements 104 of the illustrative uav recovery system are depicted in a stowed position wherein boom 308 is positioned above deck 102 i e not over the side of the deck in preparation for recovery of a uav boom 308 is moved from the stowed positioned to a recovery position such as to the positions depicted in fig4 b and 4c boom 308 can be pivoted manually or via a motorized system in the recovery position that is depicted in fig5 b axis b b of boom 308 is substantially orthogonal to the long axis of s s of ship 100 furthermore flight path c c of a uav on approach to the uav recovery system is substantially parallel to axis s s of ship 100 in a second recovery position that is depicted in fig5 c axis a a of boom 316 is not orthogonal to axis s s rather it positioned at some offset from perpendicular as measured by angle u03b2 the purpose for orientating boom 308 at an offset as depicted in fig5 c is to bring the uav along flight path d d that is not parallel to axis s s of ship 100 the reason for this is that if control of a uav is lost on its approach to the ship there is a reduced likelihood of crashing on the deck if the uav follows flight path.