Australian Navy helicopter crashes in Philippine Sea

[gulliBell]

Reported here (https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/three-australian-navy-personnel-suffer-minor-injuries-after-helicopter-crashes-in-philippine-sea/news-story/3ff40a1f2e9af7cdd44437842a38fad6):

Three Royal Australian Navy officers have suffered minor injuries after their helicopter crashed over the Philippine Sea overnight.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed to 2GB on Thursday that the HMAS Brisbane was nearby, and rescued the three navy personnel.

Mr Dutton said an investigation will be carried out urgently to assess “what went wrong”.

“We want to learn the lessons (from this),” Mr Dutton said.

The aircraft was operating from HMAS Brisbane as part of a regional presence deployment with HMAS Warramunga, when the crew were forced to perform an emergency landing in the water.

HMAS Brisbane deployed boats and were able to rescue the crew within 20 minutes.

Commander of the Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Mark Hammond commended the crews of both ships for their quick response to the emergency.

“The successful rescue is credit to the devotion to duty and skill of the officers and sailors of HMAS Brisbane,” he said.

“Their immediate actions ensured the survival of the aircrew, validating the significant training undertaken in the event an emergency of this nature occurs.”

Both ships continue to search the area for any debris, which will aid in determining the cause of the incident.

Rear Admiral Hammond said as a precaution, flying operations of the MH-60R Seahawk fleet have been temporarily suspended.

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No doubt the 'Lessons learned' will be very similar to previous lessons learned which were promptly forgotten

[dangermouse]

I wouldn't like to ditch at night on an aircraft that hasn't got any flotation kit.... Which given the role of the SH60 is more than surprising and I am sure wouldn't be acceptable in RN service

[megan]

No doubt the 'Lessons learned' will be very similar to previous lessons learned which were promptly forgottenBit hard to think of any accident that didn't have an antecedent, a new class of students come along and have yet to learn of those antecedents, hopefully they do before they have to confront the very same circumstances.

[gmrwiz]

Does anybody know the helo model involved?

[212man]

Does anybody know the helo model involved?

MH-60R Seahawk

[MightyGem]

Much more here:
https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/643196-ran-mh-60r-crew-safe-after-ditching.html

[Baldeep Inminj]

No doubt the 'Lessons learned' will be very similar to previous lessons learned which were promptly forgotten

Before I left the RAF they stopped using the term ‘lessons learned’ and they changed it to ‘lessons identified’. This was in acknowledgment of the fact that they were rarely implemented and often repeated.

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Absolutely Baldeep :ok:

[ShyTorque]

The human condition probably hasn’t changed much since we first started walking upright.

[megan]

Unconfirmed reports suggest the aircraft was on a night approach to the ship when an unexpected light source caused the pilots’ Night Vision Goggles to ‘bloom’, denying them all visual reference. The Seahawk struck the ocean some distance astern. The ship deployed its boats and the helicopter’s crew of three was rescued with what have been described as ‘minor injuries’ about 20 minutes after the event.

[Nescafe]

an unexpected light source

The flash of an iPhone camera? Wouldn’t be the first time.

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The flash of an iPhone camera? Wouldn’t be the first time. that would have lasted a second or less.

If you start to lose visual references you pull pitch and go around.

Sounds an unlikely cause.

[OvertHawk]

If it bloomed their goggles would that not deny the crew sight of their instruments as well (albeit momentarily)? Thus making an I/F go-around challenging?

Close to the vessel / oggin then even a second could mean CFIT (W).

Forgive me if this is a silly question - I've not done any NVG.

[[email protected]]

Overthawk - when you fly on NVG you are able to see your instruments underneath the goggles - you normally wear them with a gap between the lens and your face - so even if the gain on the goggles shuts them down a bit you still have instruments available, or you can flip your goggles up and fly unaided in the dark.

An approach to a ship at night isn't a quickstop, it is a stabilised approach with rate of closure and rate of descent nicely under control - even in the hover alongside the vessel you have time to sort things out.

Hope that helps :ok:

[Lonewolf_50]

I wouldn't like to ditch at night on an aircraft that hasn't got any flotation kit.... Which given the role of the SH60 is more than surprising and I am sure wouldn't be acceptable in RN service
A bit over 30 years ago, friend of mine went into the water at night in the Philippine Sea off of the USS Lake Champlain. (SH-60B).
Loss of tail rotor thrust as they were approaching for a RAST landing. (IIRC they were over the deck / in the deck environment over the back end of the ship)
(If memory serves, in a hover getting the RAST cable attached, but that may not be right)
And the tail rotor thrust went AWOL.
Got away from the ship and into the water they went, ditched, and all three got out.
(That dunker training is a life saver, isn't it?)
As he told me some time later
"It all happened kind of fast"

Baldeep Inminj
Yeah, "Lessons Identified"

[casper64]

Unconfirmed reports suggest the aircraft was on a night approach to the ship when an unexpected light source caused the pilots’ Night Vision Goggles to ‘bloom’, denying them all visual reference. The Seahawk struck the ocean some distance astern. The ship deployed its boats and the helicopter’s crew of three was rescued with what have been described as ‘minor injuries’ about 20 minutes after the event.

Find that hard to believe…. Yes a light source can have your goggles bloom (must be a pretty strong light source for modern NVGs to completely shut down…) and then there is the transition to instruments, stabilization by AFCS…. No real reason to fly into the ocean if you ask me….

[OvertHawk]

Overthawk - when you fly on NVG you are able to see your instruments underneath the goggles - you normally wear them with a gap between the lens and your face - so even if the gain on the goggles shuts them down a bit you still have instruments available, or you can flip your goggles up and fly unaided in the dark.

An approach to a ship at night isn't a quickstop, it is a stabilised approach with rate of closure and rate of descent nicely under control - even in the hover alongside the vessel you have time to sort things out.

Hope that helps :ok:


Thanks Crab

Done plenty night decks just never with NVG.

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Done plenty night decks just never with NVG. Having done it both ways I wouldn't want to go back to not using NVG:ok:

You are supposed to have a fully NVG compatible deck/ship but modern goggles are good enough to cope without.

[gulliBell]

Unconfirmed reports suggest the aircraft was on a night approach to the ship when an unexpected light source caused the pilots’ Night Vision Goggles to ‘bloom’, denying them all visual reference....

I was going to speculate at the outset a high energy Chinese laser weapon of some sort, but thought better of it. Especially considering my China Visa has expired and I'd like to get another one.