Well said, as it turns out I was the PIC.
Still no word on why the Allison 250 B17 failed, but all the normal stuff has been ruled out, we just copped the one in a million and a bit hours lottery.
Your comments were spot on, the only thing to add was that there was a R44 working on the field that provided wind info dictating the change to 18, but we couldn’t sight it on first pass so decided we had enough height to go around again.
Your comment about sink rate over the river makes a lot of sense given what happened.
We arrived overhead on first pass at almost 9000ft, a little too high to slip in.
After a complete circuit where we could not see the R44 who had reported being on 18, we started a left downwind for 18 at a little over 1500ft. Unfortunately, on the base turn the wind was far more gusty down low and significantly reduced our ground speed, so by the time we turned final, the choice was Flaps up and increase speed to try and make 18, or go as slow as possible without stalling to put her in with the least amount of energy.
I chose the latter, and my passenger walked away, and I got off easy with some broken bones.
After reviewing the flight logs, I probably should have told the local traffic to bugger off and put her down on 18 on the first circuit, but hindsight only works after the event, and I will happily take the final result any day of the week.
ATC, the Australian Army and the emergency services could not have been more helpful, and thanks to the docs at Canberra hospital for putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.