Helicopters were needed for Genesis and Stardust. Helicopters (many!) are needed for every Soyuz recovery...
All of them involve(d) landing on Earth.
Landing on water would of course also mean using helicopters. So a helicopter carrier would be needed...Not an Aircraft Carrier!! 2 small ships are needed to recover the SRBs.....

Landing on the Great Lakes would mean the orbit is inclined enough for it, otherwise it would be on one Ocean.

I"m reading an article about the Rogallo wing, by Dwayne A Day in Spaceflight (BIS) and for the Gemini, they came up with a way for the astronauts to steer the wing: by controlling gas-operated cable reels.

I wonder if CEV astronauts could steer the parachute (knowing they lie down with heads facing to the sky) towards
a place that has no electric wires or highways...Could they see were they'd land? That was another issue against Gemini landing on the ground.