Australian Navy's Sea Kings Grounded

[HELOFAN]

Thursday May 17

A mechanical problem blamed for the Nias crash in 2005 has forced down six remaining helicopters. By Paul Daley.
Just two years after a missing part caused a Sea King helicopter to crash in Indonesia, killing nine Australian service personnel, Navy has grounded the remaining six helicopters from the fleet over the same mechanical problem.

The Defence Department has confirmed that Navy has grounded the remaining six 30-year-old Sea Kings at their base, HMAS Albatross at Nowra.

"The Sea Kings have been grounded," a spokeswoman told The Bulletin.

"At this stage it appears to be a maintenance issue."

Sources told The Bulletin that the "maintenance issue" related to missing split pins in the flapping restraints of the main rotor on several of the aircraft.

The aircraft were grounded two weeks ago, one source said.

The ADF spokeswoman could not confirm when the aircraft were grounded.

A missing split pin has been established as the cause of the Sea King accident on the Indonesian island of Nias on April 2, 2005 that killed nine Australians. The helicopter, Shark 02, suddenly lost altitude and control, flipped and landed on a football field before bursting into flames, incinerating the occupants.

A year long Board of Inquiry - which was originally due to report late last month - found that lax maintenance procedures, poor paperwork and a culture of management failure - leading to senior military ranks - was to blame for the accident.

Military sources told The Bulletin that paperwork relating to the latest mechanical troubles regarding the Sea Kings was also "missing".

"I can tell you there is an absolute scramble going on within defence over this and down at Nowra there is a hunt for the appropriate paperwork," the source said.

In a cover story last month, The Bulletin reported that poor maintenance procedures had continued unabated at HMAS Albatross well after the accident and that a witness to the inquiry who had testified about poor procedures, had been intimidated by his superiors.

The BoI report was originally due to be released late last month.

The office of the Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has received a copy.

After the Nias accident the Navy vowed to hold a full and open inquiry, to release the findings and to apportion blame fearlessly, where necessary.

HF

[HELOFAN]

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

In an exclusive report on the findings of the Sea King crash inquiry, The Bulletin can reveal the fatal errors that caused the tragedy - and continued in the months that followed.
Systemic maintenance flaws and a culture of mismanagement at a Royal Australian Navy helicopter base were to blame for the 2005 crash of the Sea King Shark 02 in which nine Australians died.

While a missing split-pin and a loose nut in the control mechanism will be confirmed as the likely mechanical cause, The Bulletin understands that a military board of inquiry has identified a chain of failure running from mechanics to senior naval commanders

The inquiry's report, due to be released in late April, is understood to make 700 findings and 250 recommendations about fixing problems that led to the accident.

The 30-year-old Sea King crashed on the Indonesian island of Nias on April 2, 2005, as it attempted to land while on a mission to help villagers in the aftermath of an earthquake. Villagers pulled two survivors from the wreckage.

The Bulletin magazine's exclusive report this week also reveals that a key Nias inquiry witness, Sea King mechanic Philip Barnes, faced intimidation from a senior officer over his evidence that substandard maintenance of other Sea Kings had continued after the accident.

When asked recently by The Bulletin to discuss his case, Barnes claimed he had been banned from talking.

"Sorry ... but it's not my choice," Barnes wrote in a note from his bed in a civilian psychiatric hospital in Sydney, where he had languished until recently.

The Sea King inquiry broke with protocol, allowing media and family access to the hearings, and, importantly for family members, all evidence - including original statements and transcripts of cross-examination - was posted on the Department's website.

Doug Goodall, the father of 25-year-old Lieutenant Matthew Goodall, one of the dead, praises the inquiry process for its openness and accessibility.

"The navy has set up a process to get to the bottom of the set of circumstances that killed nine young Australians, including our son," Goodall says.

The inquiry also exposed an apparent shift in the definition of military responsibility. No longer, it seems, should we expect the captain to go down with his ship.

While there seems little doubt that some of the report's 250 recommendations will impact heavily on some of the inquiry's more prominent witnesses, regardless of rank, the big question is: will Defence Minister Brendan Nelson act on the more critical suggestions?

History would tell us not to hold our breath.

HF

[HELOFAN]

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
A routine mission became a tragedy, as eyewitnesses looked on. By Paul Toohey.
Early on Saturday, April 2, 2005, just after HMAS Kanimbla steamed into the harbour of Gunung Sitoli, the capital of Indonesia's Nias island, one of two Royal Australian Navy's Sea King helicopters took off from the aft deck. Carrying 11 aircrew and passengers, the 30-year-old Sea King SK02 - Shark 02 - had come to spearhead Australia's aid and medical relief operation for the villagers of Nias, whose homes had been ravaged by a large earthquake in late March.
Shark 02's mission that day was straightforward enough: move emergency medical teams into the villages along with medical supplies, and evacuate the seriously ill for treatment aboard the Kanimbla. Shark 02 had made two uneventful trips and refuelled, before setting out again in the middle of the afternoon to the island's south.
The third trip would be its last.
When Shark 02 finally found its destination, the remote mountain village of Aman Draya, it banked and circled three times. Villagers responded to the chopper by running from their homes and waving. A large crowd had already gathered to welcome the chopper as it manoeuvred to land. Instead they witnessed a tragedy unfolding. When it was about 20m off the ground, witnesses reported that the sound of the rotor blades changed suddenly. Shark 02 fell from the sky and landed upside down before bursting into flames.
Shark 21, the other Sea King operating from the Kanimbla, soon arrived at the crash site to survey the wreckage. It flew the two survivors, pulled from the flaming wreckage by villagers, back to the ship before returning to Aman Draya. Indonesian police and soldiers guarded the wreckage until the next day.
Shark 21 - and a crew of volunteers - returned to begin the disturbing task of recovering the nine bodies.
HF

[HELOFAN]

One of the maintenance crew , Phillip Barnes gives statement to the enquiry as to what happened Prior & post the accident & his treatment my his ranking personel.

If you have adobe acrobat I suggest you click on the links Explosive evidence parts 1 and 2 after clicking on the link below.

http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=257255

I think i'd buy this guy a beer for saving the lives of other guys by doing what he did, and for how he was jumped on from a great height.

Sad Times again for the Navy.

HF