COUNTDOWN TO DISASTER
15.06.1996
We went down. You think that you're gone
but you do your best right to the end and
somehow we got out of it.
A split-second of horror was all it took, but the
impact of Wednesday's SAS helicopter tragedy has rocked a nation. From the scene, Courier-Mail chief reporter Tony Koch pieces together the events that led to disaster
F OR the uninitiated _ those of us who are a long way from being trained to the peak response levels of elite Special Air Service operatives _ it is frightening just to be briefed in readiness to ride in a Black Hawk helicopter.
It is not like a passenger jet where the emergency details are explained on a television screen, demonstrated by an elegant flight attendant, and repeated on one of those plastic-coated sheets in the seat pocket.
Just: "We'll do a head count. In case of an emergency, always be aware that there are two propellers _ one overhead and the tail rotor.
Keep your seatbelt secured. Don't jump out if the aircraft is not on the ground. In case of fire _ it's every man for himself.''
It's not everybody's idea of fun to be an SAS soldier, operating from Blackhawk helicopters.
They are big, sinister and noisy aircraft, purpose-built as
fighting machines, and with little consideration made for comfort.
Officially they weigh about 16,000lb (airmen still talk in old measures) and have a load capacity including fuel of about another 6500lb.
And, again officially, they can carry 18 troops plus the crew of two pilots and two loadmasters. But it would be cramped.
The cabin of the machines has intermittent hooks and rings which are strategically placed to provide either safety restraints, or anchors for ropes down which soldiers clamber, often from dizzy heights. And they do it over mountains, jungles, deserts, water _ in
daylight or dark, rain or shine.
At 7pm last Wednesday, two Blackhawks collided at Fire Support Base Barbara in an accident which has shocked a nation.
Each Blackhawk had the mandatory four crew. One carried 11 SAS soldiers and the other had nine. Fire Support Base Barbara is a training area on a small plateau at High Range, about 60km west/south-west of the Garbutt base of Townsville's 5th Aviation Regiment.
The base is central to 1700sq/km of military training area over and through which access to non-military personnel is absolutely restricted.
But no one non-military would be keen on going there. After all, these blokes play for keeps. They use live ammunition and explosives,
and simulate actual active contact situations.
Fire Support Base Barbara comprises a series of dug-out artillery bunkers on the plateau which is not much larger than several football fields placed side-by-side. Around the hillside are scattered dozens of yellow target backboards on which are painted the shadow silhouettes of
crouched soldiers.
This site is only one of many used for training exercises by the SAS. They also do a lot of training in overseas locations _ the precise nature and locations of which are classified.
But on Wednesday, Barbara was chosen because the troops were doing anti-terrorist exercises. They were simulating a night-time attack and Barbara was considered ideal. It is so isolated that there are no town lights visible which can detract from the purity of the assigned task.
Reports indicate that at any one time there are about 500 soldiers from the Perth-based SAS contingent assigned to training at Townsville.
Each year 100 are selected to be put through the most rigorous disciplines, and at the end of the annual session they are then replaced from the available ranks.
The 2000 Olympics have figured strongly in the schedules for which these people might be called on to serve Australia _ to handle the very real danger of a terrorist attack. This includes the probability that hostages could be involved and the obvious assumption that the people
of ill-will involved will be armed, highly trained and very dangerous.
The lessons were learned at Munich in 1980, and the stability of world politics has certainly not improved since that time. It is understood that two exercises a year, each up to 15-days duration, have been carried out in the Townsville region specifically with the Sydney
Olympics in mind.
Last week's effort had been going for several days. It involved six Blackhawks with, according to the army, ""up to 15 men on each''. It is treasonable to even ask about specific numbers.
The soldiers involved considered it something of a luxury because they were at least able to return daily to their Townsville base _ and to their families.
On occasions like last Wednesday, when the manoeuvres were
restricted to night-time, they would often arrive home as late as 2am.
But it was to a proper bed, hot baths and meals at a table _ not like
some assignments where they are dropped at a remote location with basic rations and made to live off the land for up to 10 days.
That's where the SAS men earned the nickname "the
chicken-stranglers'' because they ate what they could catch, pluck, kill or dig _ and there wouldn't be too many Orpingtons or Rhode Island Reds wandering around for them to snatch.
Last Wednesday the contingent left from Garbutt and spent the afternoon training at Barbara. It was decided to repeat the procedures at night, under complete ""lights-out'' conditions where the objective was to take a position held by terrorists.
What was required was for the six Blackhawks to fly in formation, two abreast, at an approach airspeed of around 90km/h. Two of the choppers which contained the ""sniper'' shooters were to break off to the wings and provide support fire to allow the SAS troops to get on the ground and attack.
The six helicopters were to reduce speed to hover above the landing zone target (Barbara) at a height of about 50 metres. Ropes were thrown out of the cabins, and soldiers, equipped with heavy gloves, had to ""fast-rope'' to the ground. They were laden with packs, rifles and live ammunition, and the choppers carried other ammunition
and explosives.
It was in achieving the hover formation that disaster struck. One helicopter with 15 on board, suddenly veered right, severing the tail and tail rotor of that piloted by Captain Burke.
Conjecture abounds as to why the craft slewed, with speculation that it could have been affected by the sudden movement of the men preparing to disembark down the ropes.
But that is not expert opinion and will be the key element sought by investigating teams.
Whatever the reason, the result was catastrophic _ resulting in the worst air disaster involving military personnel in peacetime in Australia.
The emotional description given yesterday by Captain Burke picks up the story from here: "As we were flying into the target I received a warning from my crew member that the other aircraft was turning towards me abruptly.
"I then heard a very loud explosion. Both aircraft exploded in mid-air. Theirs (the other helicopter) obviously (exploding) very severely. Ours was just on fire. I then went into the normal drills and I knew that the only way we would survive was to land in an upright position.''
In the 10 seconds or so the helicopter took to complete it's
descent, it was spinning out of control. Before it hit the ground, it had completed three complete barrel rolls.
One thought filled the mind of the man in whose hands were the lives of 12 on board _ he had to land the helicopter on its wheels. He could not have seen that the other helicopter had already crashed on its back _ a blazing inferno from which just one _ a loadmaster _ was to escape.
His Blackhawk yawed, spun and rolled, but _ and God alone knows how _ he managed the impossible: the golden rule of keeping the horizon as
a reference point to ensure as ably as possible that the craft was in a straight and level status.
"I knew we lost control and actually thought we were dead. We (Burke and co-pilot on radio link earphones) went through it (emergency checks) and tried to talk about it,'' he said. "We went down. You think that you're gone but you do your best right to the end and somehow we got out of it. It's not hard to have a good day after that.''
The aircraft thumped down metres from the other stricken craft _ and fortunately only 50 metres or so from a deep ravine. Both helicopters were burning fiercely, and the air was punctuated by the sound of explosives and live ammunition going off.
MILITARY ambulance and emergency crews on the ground sprang to work, pulling men from the wrecks. Some of those on board the helicopters lost their lives trying to save others; many suffered injuries during the courageous rescue. None shirked.
And what of the future of this sort of endeavour?
Australia's chief of Defence Forces, General John Baker, said on Thursday that the work of the unit would proceed, and it had already been brought back to full strength.
The only concession was that the current 15-day exercise had been abandoned. And the Blackhawks _ much maligned in some quarters but stoutly defended by those who fly them _ will maintain their premier position in Australia's defence
fleet.
As the tragedy fades into memory, it will be important to remember the promises made by authorities that the plight of the widows and children and the injured affected by the disaster at Fire Support Base Barbara is not forgotten.
It happened with the Voyager when it took almost 30 years for seamen to be looked after financially and emotionally. It happened again when the first Moura mine disaster occurred and widows were left fighting for compensation years later.
General Baker told yesterday's memorial service at Lavarack
Barracks that these victims were part of the ""Family of the Army'' and would be looked after.
But Captain Burke deserves the final word.
"We're a very, very strong unit. We feel like we're a family. There's a great spirit,'' he said.
"We all have pride and trust in each other, an enormous respect for our commanding officer and we'll all pull through together.
"This has been a real tragedy and we're all deeply hurt by it. But what we've been doing we strongly believe in _ and we do it for the benefit of the people of Australia.''
No amount of money in Townsville yesterday would have been enough to buy a sandy or sky-blue beret. You have to earn them with a currency few of us can ever appreciate.
