OK, this is really weird...
I just tried on another computer, (installed via Steam) does exactly the same thing.
If I change the Arleigh Burke to another ship, it works as expected.
If I change the helicopter to be controlled by the CPU, it starts on the helipad.
But if I try as a player on the Arleigh Burke, it always shows up in the air. On both computers. On any map. Like it is not snapping to the landing pad.
Even weirder, I just realized that the other computer is not on openbeta...
Maybe it is some weird timing issue? Both computers have rather slow graphics cards (GeForce GTX970, Intel Iris).
Is there a way to log exactly what happens during spawning to see what may go wrong?