I am no great fan of the green machine but much of this thread is speculation and conjecture. I guess that it is why it's called a rumour network.
you clearly have no idea about operational risk management rather than authorising a training trip in the local area. It could have been worth risking the lives of additional crews to save those that were in peril; it might not have been That is what balanced risk management is about. have you ever authorised a sortie where the odds of the crew coming home were less than 50/50?
You should ask a couple of them. The training centre aircrew conducted very appropriate and timely operational risk management to conduct rescues and save lives, particularly on the Tue of the Lockyer Valley flood. Expect to see more about this after all of the investigations are complete.
That is the point - they should have a NTM, even if it is 48 hours. Seems stupid to have a base full of capable assets that are not on a formal NTM for DACC.
Everyone in the ADF, except trainees, is on some sort of NTM. This is, in the case of Army, determined by Forces Command. The training centre
was placed on a 24 hour NTM before the floods but reacted to the Condamine floods in about 2 hours.
Mate, you can probably speak for Amberley, but are you so certain that Oakey had a recall plan and that the details in the duty officer's folder were correct........
Well I am certain and can say that it was achieved with a pre-prepared 'recall plan' as you call it, by a duty officer who had all of the correct information.
According to the RAN CDR on TV this morning the viz was 800m, so really not that bad
The RAN CDR is hardly going to point out on national TV that they were flying below helicopter VMC is he? You yourself would know how the ADF can go after its own kind
Several pilots I know (army, navy & civil) spoke of the worst weather they had ever flown in.
Did Oakey for example call the local councils (and their parent HQ) and say íf you ask through official channels we can have XX Blackhawks and XX Kiowas and a 412 ready in XX days'
Yes.
I am not sure the level of readiness that you needed to maintain in order to support the civil community 30 years ago is really needed now. The East coast of Australia these days has probably a dozen very capable multi engine IFR machines (many of which utilise NVDs, automatic appraoch and hover etc) whose core job is SAR/EMS on call 24/
Spot on Turkey. And imagine the outcry from operators if the ADF starting moving in and displacing paid civil operators in some of those lucrative areas such as bushfire fighting etc
Those that spent last Christmas away got leave following that duty, and would, I'm sure have given their stand down to potentially save a life or assist with the recovery.
There were literally hundreds of training centre members ringing up to ask to be recalled and another sizeable number who just turned up to work anyway.
Oakey helos are training assets on a training base, hence no winches and no crews on duty during Xmas stand down period.
Incorrect. All S70s are fitted with a winch and the centre did have crews on 24 hr NTM.
There is absolutely no disputing that the recall of personnel and the employment of ADF assets could have been much better but lets work from a basis of fact not prejudice eh HPT?
As for MRH-90, irrespective of the reasons why, they are not operational yet. Simple.