I was taught to back the flag into the disc. That said, we didn't have one of those fancy frames at Netheravon with Alouettes, we just held the flag pole in our hands.
I'm an ex Ac Tech in the Army. I've never done this but I have used the Chadwick Helmuth machine for this. But I have done hundreds of startup checks on Scout, Gazelle and Lynx. However, I have recently been sacked from Amazon for being too near to an HGV truck with the driver in his seat with his keys and the engine NOT running. This is considered extremely dangerous and I could've been run over. 🤨 Several vehicle "specialists" agreed with this fantasy, so, I lost my appeal for unfair dismissal. I pointed out my history of being under the disc of helicopters at full flight idle but this was deemed irrelevant.🤔