Post by corsair67 on Feb 16, 2006 9:28:51 GMT 12
From this morning's The Australian.
Sea King chopper set to be replaced
Jonathan Porter and Sid Marris
February 16, 2006.
THE troubled, ageing Sea King helicopter may be replaced earlier than planned in the wake of the crash on the Indonesian island of Nias that claimed nine Defence Force lives and injured two others last year.
On the same day the inquiry into the crash heard that no pilot could have rescued the plummeting craft after a critical bolt dislodged, the Senate was told the navy would make recommendations on a new machine later this year.
Head of the defence capability development group Lieutenant General David Hurley said a Sea King replacement was part of a larger program to upgrade the defence helicopter fleet.
"We are not to that point to give advice to government yet, but it will be done this year," he told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra.
A replacement for the Sea King was envisaged over the next 10 years as part of the 2003 Defence Capability Plan, but will now be accelerated.
Defence Force chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston would not be drawn on when the replacement would happen when asked in Senate estimates hearings yesterday.
But a Defence spokeswoman last night confirmed a decision would be made on the replacement craft this year.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said the European MRH-90, of which a dozen have been ordered for the army, would be one suitable option.
At the inquiry in Sydney into the crash of a Sea King at Nias in January last year, following the Boxing Day Tsunami, one of the nation's top naval aviation test flyers ruled out pilot error as the cause of the crash, which killed nine defence personnel, saying the tragedy was "inevitable" after a 5cm bolt came loose.
The pilots of doomed Sea King helicopter Shark 02 had less than three seconds to save the aircraft, said Tony Baker, who has more than 2000 hours flying helicopters for the Australian, US and Royal navies.
Mr Baker said the crew could "not have averted the inevitable crash".
Crash investigators believe Shark 02 went down because either a defective slit pin was fixed to the bolt, or no split pin was in place at all.
The bolt joined two components in the "broom cupboard" behind the pilots' seats, so-called because it houses a succession of rotor control rods.
Mr Baker said once the bolt had worked loose the control rod would have slipped "under gravity", activating a servomechanism that pitched the helicopter into a nosedive.
"Once that happened there was no way to recover the aircraft because the pilots had no fore and aft control," Mr Baker told the inquiry.
"There is no doubt in my mind that that bolt is most likely the cause (of the crash)."
Mr Baker said the pilots' first reaction would have been to pull back on the joystick. The next would have been to feed more power if any were available to the rotors, or apply collective pitch to the rotors to create more lift.
But with the chopper's nose facing the ground, such an action would "not affect the outcome", he said.
Additional reporting: AAP
Sea King chopper set to be replaced
Jonathan Porter and Sid Marris
February 16, 2006.
THE troubled, ageing Sea King helicopter may be replaced earlier than planned in the wake of the crash on the Indonesian island of Nias that claimed nine Defence Force lives and injured two others last year.
On the same day the inquiry into the crash heard that no pilot could have rescued the plummeting craft after a critical bolt dislodged, the Senate was told the navy would make recommendations on a new machine later this year.
Head of the defence capability development group Lieutenant General David Hurley said a Sea King replacement was part of a larger program to upgrade the defence helicopter fleet.
"We are not to that point to give advice to government yet, but it will be done this year," he told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra.
A replacement for the Sea King was envisaged over the next 10 years as part of the 2003 Defence Capability Plan, but will now be accelerated.
Defence Force chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston would not be drawn on when the replacement would happen when asked in Senate estimates hearings yesterday.
But a Defence spokeswoman last night confirmed a decision would be made on the replacement craft this year.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said the European MRH-90, of which a dozen have been ordered for the army, would be one suitable option.
At the inquiry in Sydney into the crash of a Sea King at Nias in January last year, following the Boxing Day Tsunami, one of the nation's top naval aviation test flyers ruled out pilot error as the cause of the crash, which killed nine defence personnel, saying the tragedy was "inevitable" after a 5cm bolt came loose.
The pilots of doomed Sea King helicopter Shark 02 had less than three seconds to save the aircraft, said Tony Baker, who has more than 2000 hours flying helicopters for the Australian, US and Royal navies.
Mr Baker said the crew could "not have averted the inevitable crash".
Crash investigators believe Shark 02 went down because either a defective slit pin was fixed to the bolt, or no split pin was in place at all.
The bolt joined two components in the "broom cupboard" behind the pilots' seats, so-called because it houses a succession of rotor control rods.
Mr Baker said once the bolt had worked loose the control rod would have slipped "under gravity", activating a servomechanism that pitched the helicopter into a nosedive.
"Once that happened there was no way to recover the aircraft because the pilots had no fore and aft control," Mr Baker told the inquiry.
"There is no doubt in my mind that that bolt is most likely the cause (of the crash)."
Mr Baker said the pilots' first reaction would have been to pull back on the joystick. The next would have been to feed more power if any were available to the rotors, or apply collective pitch to the rotors to create more lift.
But with the chopper's nose facing the ground, such an action would "not affect the outcome", he said.
Additional reporting: AAP
