Dili Black Hawk
From "The Australian" newspaper
Defence kept mum on Dili crash
Mark Dodd and James Madden August 03, 2007
AN investigation has been launched into the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter on the outskirts of Dili more than five weeks ago.
The Australian Defence Force did not announce at the time that a crash had occurred and confirmed the incident only after calls from The Australian.
There are concerns the crash might be linked to "rotor droop" - a sudden loss of power cited as a possible factor in another Black Hawk crash, off Fiji last November, in which the pilot and an SAS trooper were killed.
No one was hurt in the Dili crash but the chopper suffered extensive damage. In response to questions, Defence yesterday confirmed the incident, which occurred during "routine night operations assault training".
The US-designed Black Hawk, the workhorse of the army's troop-lift transport operations, made a hard landing at Dili's Comoro heliport, the site of a large Australian military base.
"The aircraft suffered damage to the underside of the fuselage and was freighted back to Australia on an RAAF Hercules," a Defence spokesman said.