Army chopper crashed after evasive action, report finds
DEFENCE AVIATION SAFETY REPORT KEY FINDINGS OF FATAL ARMY HELICOPTER CRASH OFF QUEENSLAND'S WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS
* On the night of July 28, 2023 an MRH-90 Taipan of the 6th Aviation Regiment plunged into the sea while flying in formation with three other choppers on a mission during Exercise Talisman Sabre 23
* Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs died in the crash
* In response, the Director of the Defence Flight Safety Bureau formed an investigative team to determine the cause of the crash, identify factors that contributed to it and recommend safety improvements to prevent a recurrence
* The investigation concluded the primary cause of the accident was an unrecognised loss of spatial orientation, commonly referred to as spatial disorientation, meaning the pilots misperceived the aircraft's position in the air
* Due to low altitude and the high rate of descent of the aircraft the investigation concluded the pilots did not have time to regain an accurate picture of the helicopter's orientation and take recovery action before impact
* Varying visibility in overcast and showery conditions, where the horizon was more than likely not discernible, contributed to the pilots' spatial disorientation while they were maintaining formation using night vision devices
* Cabin doors were closed to minimise crew exposure to rain and low temperatures but this restricted visibility and the ability of crew to alert the pilot to where the aircraft was in relation to the sea
* The investigation found the pilots were likely experiencing a level of fatigue shown to impede optimal performance and increase susceptibility to spatial disorientation
* Policy relating to rostering practices was also found to be sub-optimal, contributing to an environment where fatigue-related risks were not mitigated effectively
* The investigation found the aircraft's engine and flight control systems were operating normally and there were no structural failures of the helicopter prior to impact
* It was also found that demands on key personnel responsible for aviation safety often exceeded workforce capacity, which likely degraded the effectiveness of Army Aviation's safety, quality and risk management systems
* The report does not seek to apportion blame or determine liability and does not recommend disciplinary or administrative action against organisations or individuals
* It identified 196 findings, resulting in 46 recommendations which have all been accepted by the Defence Aviation Authority
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The Advertiser
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The Australian Defence Force knew about fire risks posed by its aircraft years before an army helicopter sparked a catastrophic blaze that razed most of a national park during Black Summer, a coroner has found. The fire was ignited by the searchlight on an ADF MRH-90 Taipan helicopter, known as ANGEL21, when the crew landed for a toilet break while on a reconnaissance mission outside Canberra on January 27, 2020. The fire quickly spread from the Orroral Valley and went on to burn more than 82,000 hectares of the Namadgi National Park, causing significant damage to the environment and Indigenous sites. The ADF knew about the risk of the lights, which can reach temperatures as high as 500C after 10 minutes of use, after a Black Hawk helicopter ignited a grass fire in 2013, ACT Chief Coroner Lorraine Walker said in inquiry findings handed down on Friday. But while a warning about the lights was added to the Black Hawk flight manuals, it was not included in the MRH-90 document. 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The crew made an emergency call at 1.45pm to report fire damage to the helicopter, but did not alert anyone to the blaze. When asked why he didn't immediately raise the alarm about the bushfire, the pilot said he was concerned the helicopter could "fall from the sky at any moment". Ms Walker said the situation was clearly frightening for the crew, but they should have reported the fire at a time of heightened risk. "It must have been obvious to any thinking person that a delay in reporting the fire could potentially impact the capacity of the relevant organisations to respond to it," she said. During the inquiry, the federal government did not dispute the searchlight had ignited the fire. Ms Walker made several recommendations, including that the findings from incident reports be shared across the ADF and included in any risk and training materials. The Australian Defence Force knew about fire risks posed by its aircraft years before an army helicopter sparked a catastrophic blaze that razed most of a national park during Black Summer, a coroner has found. The fire was ignited by the searchlight on an ADF MRH-90 Taipan helicopter, known as ANGEL21, when the crew landed for a toilet break while on a reconnaissance mission outside Canberra on January 27, 2020. The fire quickly spread from the Orroral Valley and went on to burn more than 82,000 hectares of the Namadgi National Park, causing significant damage to the environment and Indigenous sites. The ADF knew about the risk of the lights, which can reach temperatures as high as 500C after 10 minutes of use, after a Black Hawk helicopter ignited a grass fire in 2013, ACT Chief Coroner Lorraine Walker said in inquiry findings handed down on Friday. But while a warning about the lights was added to the Black Hawk flight manuals, it was not included in the MRH-90 document. "The situation is unlikely to have arisen had the aircrew been made aware through the MRH-90 flight manual of the risk of fire associated with landing lights," Ms Walker said in the ACT Coroners Court. "This failure reflects a systemic failure to apply the lesson learned in one context ... to the broader yet patently alike context of another aircraft utilising similar technology." The crew, who had been tasked to identify safe helicopter landing points as bushfires raged across southern NSW, were within their rights to stop for a break, the coroner found. But they made an error of judgment by failing to report the fire to their superiors and other authorities. The inquiry heard the crew noticed the fire soon after landing at 1.38pm, with a flight recording capturing one crew member saying: "We started the fire. We started a fire." As the flames moved towards the fuselage and the crew prepared to take off, another crew member was recorded saying: "Yep f***ing searchlight. Dammit." 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The Australian Defence Force knew about fire risks posed by its aircraft years before an army helicopter sparked a catastrophic blaze that razed most of a national park during Black Summer, a coroner has found. The fire was ignited by the searchlight on an ADF MRH-90 Taipan helicopter, known as ANGEL21, when the crew landed for a toilet break while on a reconnaissance mission outside Canberra on January 27, 2020. The fire quickly spread from the Orroral Valley and went on to burn more than 82,000 hectares of the Namadgi National Park, causing significant damage to the environment and Indigenous sites. The ADF knew about the risk of the lights, which can reach temperatures as high as 500C after 10 minutes of use, after a Black Hawk helicopter ignited a grass fire in 2013, ACT Chief Coroner Lorraine Walker said in inquiry findings handed down on Friday. But while a warning about the lights was added to the Black Hawk flight manuals, it was not included in the MRH-90 document. 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The crew made an emergency call at 1.45pm to report fire damage to the helicopter, but did not alert anyone to the blaze. When asked why he didn't immediately raise the alarm about the bushfire, the pilot said he was concerned the helicopter could "fall from the sky at any moment". Ms Walker said the situation was clearly frightening for the crew, but they should have reported the fire at a time of heightened risk. "It must have been obvious to any thinking person that a delay in reporting the fire could potentially impact the capacity of the relevant organisations to respond to it," she said. During the inquiry, the federal government did not dispute the searchlight had ignited the fire. Ms Walker made several recommendations, including that the findings from incident reports be shared across the ADF and included in any risk and training materials.
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The Australian Defence Force knew about fire risks posed by its aircraft years before an army helicopter sparked a catastrophic blaze that razed most of a national park during Black Summer, a coroner has found. The fire was ignited by the searchlight on an ADF MRH-90 Taipan helicopter, known as ANGEL21, when the crew landed for a toilet break while on a reconnaissance mission outside Canberra on January 27, 2020. The fire quickly spread from the Orroral Valley and went on to burn more than 82,000 hectares of the Namadgi National Park, causing significant damage to the environment and Indigenous sites. The ADF knew about the risk of the lights, which can reach temperatures as high as 500C after 10 minutes of use, after a Black Hawk helicopter ignited a grass fire in 2013, ACT Chief Coroner Lorraine Walker said in inquiry findings handed down on Friday. But while a warning about the lights was added to the Black Hawk flight manuals, it was not included in the MRH-90 document. "The situation is unlikely to have arisen had the aircrew been made aware through the MRH-90 flight manual of the risk of fire associated with landing lights," Ms Walker said in the ACT Coroners Court. "This failure reflects a systemic failure to apply the lesson learned in one context ... to the broader yet patently alike context of another aircraft utilising similar technology." The crew, who had been tasked to identify safe helicopter landing points as bushfires raged across southern NSW, were within their rights to stop for a break, the coroner found. But they made an error of judgment by failing to report the fire to their superiors and other authorities. The inquiry heard the crew noticed the fire soon after landing at 1.38pm, with a flight recording capturing one crew member saying: "We started the fire. We started a fire." As the flames moved towards the fuselage and the crew prepared to take off, another crew member was recorded saying: "Yep f***ing searchlight. Dammit." The crew made an emergency call at 1.45pm to report fire damage to the helicopter, but did not alert anyone to the blaze. When asked why he didn't immediately raise the alarm about the bushfire, the pilot said he was concerned the helicopter could "fall from the sky at any moment". Ms Walker said the situation was clearly frightening for the crew, but they should have reported the fire at a time of heightened risk. "It must have been obvious to any thinking person that a delay in reporting the fire could potentially impact the capacity of the relevant organisations to respond to it," she said. During the inquiry, the federal government did not dispute the searchlight had ignited the fire. Ms Walker made several recommendations, including that the findings from incident reports be shared across the ADF and included in any risk and training materials.
The Australian
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Anthony Albanese is playing a huge gamble at the G7 summit in Canada with Donald Trump
Anthony Albanese looks on during a federal cabinet meeting in Perth. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Anthony Albanese is gambling Australia's future defence and security on two fronts and he may lose on both. First, the Prime Minister is betting he can convince US President Donald Trump and Trump's Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, to accept the government's minimalist plan for defence spending during the coming decade without doing serious damage to the US-Australia alliance. Second, Albanese is gambling that despite numerous official and external warnings, Australia will not need to fight a major war in the Indo-Pacific during the coming decade. Both bets are very risky: if Albanese loses one or both, Australia's security will be severely damaged, possibly irretrievably. Washington's pressure on Australia and other Indo-Pacific allies to increase defence spending is strong and unwavering. It has several powerful drivers. Most important is the challenge of Beijing's surging military power, its extensive preparations to fight a major war and its aggressive behaviour towards Taiwan, Japan, The Philippines and other regional democracies. Another driver is the rapid rise of Beijing's military-industrial strength with China's manufacturing output now double that of the US. Donald Trump , JD Vance and Pete Hegseth. A further US concern is the prospect of having to confront a rapidly growing Chinese nuclear force and the possibility of a Chinese-Russian nuclear coalition that could deploy more than double the number of US nuclear weapons by 2035. That risk is driving preparations for a rapid expansion and modernisation of the US nuclear arsenal. It also has spurred Trump to announce the urgent deployment of the Golden Dome system, to provide ballistic and cruise missile defence for the American homeland. This is expected to cost around $US175bn ($270bn). The Trump administration is determined to reverse the erosion of its nuclear escalation dominance. Australia and all other allies should support this endeavour because it will enhance our deterrence power and limit our vulnerability to nuclear coercion. In the face of these urgent demands, the Trump administration has set clear security priorities and determined that the US cannot do all of the heavy lifting. The allies must make much stronger contributions to their own and to collective defence. In his address to the Shangri-La Dialogue Hegseth made clear the Trump administration's priority defence policy region is Asia. In consequence, the European allies have been pressed to take much of the defence load in their region and accept the lead in underpinning the defence of Ukraine. Nearly all of the European allies have now agreed to substantially boost their defence spending. Poland expects to spend 4.7 per cent of its GDP on defence this year. Lithuania plans to spend 5.5 per cent and Estonia 5.4 per cent next year, and Germany is hiking its defence budget by 75 per cent immediately to 3.5 per cent of GDP. There are also reports that Germany is planning a further rise to 5 per cent before the end of the decade. In his speech Hegseth contrasted the efforts of some Asian allies with the substantial spending commitments already made by America's NATO partners when Europe faces a less formidable threat. This is the context for Hegseth asking Defence Minister Richard Marles to lift Australian defence spending from its current 2 per cent of GDP to 3.5 per cent 'as soon as possible'. During his plenary presentation, Hegseth appeared to be looking straight at Marles when he stated that in the case of some allies 'tough love' was needed. Albanese's response so far has been to stick with the government's plan to lift defence spending from its current 2 per cent of GDP to 2.33 per cent in eight years. 'What we'll do is we'll determine our defence policy. And we've invested across the forwards, an additional $10bn in defence,' he said. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles. If the government fails to move on its business-as-usual, minimal growth approach, the Prime Minister can expect a frosty reception from Trump if their anticipated meeting takes place on the margins of the G7 summit in Canada in 10 days. If Albanese is eventually invited to the Oval Office, a Zelensky-like dressing-down may be in store. Australia's alliance with the US is unlikely to be unscathed. The second big security gamble made by Albanese and his colleagues is that Australia will not need to fight a major war in the coming decade. Indeed, it appears the government doesn't even see a need to take additional steps to deter such a war occurring. These judgments fly in the face of numerous official and unofficial assessments that the risk of China conducting a major operation to seize democratic Taiwan is high and, if it occurs, it is likely to trigger a major war between China and the US and its allies. Hegseth reminded his audience that Xi Jinping has ordered China's military to be ready to conduct a major assault on Taiwan by 2027. 'There is no reason to sugar-coat it. The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent,' Hegseth said. Albanese appears not to have come to terms with the shift of global power and potential conflict to East Asia during recent decades. In the event of such a crisis, Australia will be close to the primary battlefields and would likely be attacked at an early stage. Recent intense discussions in Washington and other allied capitals have confirmed that if war breaks out we should expect missile strikes, attacks on key defence bases and shipping, mining of some ports, special force raids, sabotage and powerful disabling cyber attacks. The government appears unconcerned that our military and our civilian population are grossly unprepared. Russian President Vladimir Putin and foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, attend a ceremony to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall. Regrettably, Australia's strategic situation is even worse than this. America's military and defence industrial capabilities have been allowed to run down so far that in the event of a major crisis, the US will struggle just to supply its own forces. US polling also reveals that public support for the commitment of American forces for the defence of allies and partners is weakening. Since the Vietnam War the experience is that even if a president commits forces at the outset of a crisis, the American public is unwilling to sustain major military operations abroad taking casualties for an extended period unless the US itself is directly threatened. A further serious complication is that during the past two years presidents Joe Biden and Trump have both interfered in the campaigns of self-defence being fought by Ukraine and Israel. Under both presidents the US has insisted that allies accept US directions, even if this has meant handing over national territory to an authoritarian invader or surrendering core interests to a terrorist group. The lessons for Australia are stark. In contrast to the past, prompt, powerful, sustained and fully co-operative US support for Australia in a future crisis is now much less predictable and less likely. The brutal truth is that in some circumstances we may need to fight to defend ourselves largely on our own. In years past Australian politicians routinely stated that the highest priority of the government is to protect the nation and its people. Albanese and his colleagues appear to have a different view. They have placed two very risky bets. The stakes for our future independence and freedom could scarcely be higher. Ross Babbage is chief executive of Strategic Forum in Australia and a non-resident senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.
