EIGHTEEN soldiers died and 10 others were injured 10 years ago when two Black Hawk helicopters collided during a live-fire counter-terrorism exercise near Townsville.
Fifteen soldiers of the Special Air Service Regiment based in Perth and three army aviators died on the night of June 12, 1996, when the Black Hawks, flying in close formation at night in a group of six, veered into each other, crashed and burned. They had been involved in a mock rescue of hostages.
After extended hearings a military board of inquiry found there had been a “litany of errors” in the command, planning and execution of the exercise.
The inquiry heard there had not only been poor training, but the pilots were equipped with night vision goggles that left them virtually blind. The inquiry also found inadequate communication between the helicopters and insufficient numbers of fire extinguishers on board.
Charges against three officers involved were later dropped after outrage within the army.
In the two years of inquiries that followed, the military justice system came in for harsh criticism, as did a defence force unprepared for combat.
The Black Hawk, which carries a crew of four and up to 10 soldiers, is the principal transport helicopter of the Australian Army. It entered service in 1988 with the army acquiring a total of 39. The last aircraft was delivered in 1991 and concerns have been regularly raised about the ageing nature of the fleet.
Lieutenant Andrew Allport, flying in another helicopter, said he saw one of the helicopters turn towards the other, which were only about one rotor blade apart, and watched as its rotor blades hacked off the tail rotor and sliced into the fuselage of the second helicopter.
The fiery spray from the ruptured fuselage set alight the first helicopter, which hit the ground upside down and then exploded. The second helicopter spiralled to the ground at a slower rate.
As the nation’s worst military disaster since a collision between HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Voyager in 1964 claimed 82 lives, the Black Hawk disaster had a profound impact on the country and its defence forces.
Flags fluttered at half mast at defence sites around the nation.
HMAS Kanimbla, from which the latest disaster occurred, was involved in the Sea King helicopter disaster on Nias Island in Indonesia in April last year, when nine people were killed.
The landing ship has been in operation since 1970 and was acquired by Australian Defence Forces in 1994 from the US Navy.