No longer do the Middle Eastern deserts reverberate to the sound of Australian Chinooks. Photo by Sgt John Coombes, 1JPAU(P)

Home and hosed

 

By Maj Mark Sedsman
THE SF Task Gp is back in Australia, no longer do the deserts of the Middle East reverberate to the sound of Australian rotary wing aircraft.

The helo crews, like the SF they supported have headed home to Australia with the exception of a select group tasked with ensuring that the helos are loaded safely onto AN-124 transport aircraft.

5 Avn Regt Chinooks sit in pieces, rotors missing, pylons removed, looking decidedly older than they really are. This belies their operational involvement in Ops Bastille and Falconer.

The venerable CH-47D, commonly regarded as the workhorse of the Australian Army Aviation Corps, established itself as an integral element of the Australian commitment to operations in Iraq.

Following in the footsteps of Black Hawks and Hueys in areas like Cambodia, East Timor and Bougainville, the Chinooks allocated in direct support of the SF cut their operational teeth in one of the harshest environmental areas possible.

The aviation detachment was tasked with providing the SF with capabilities, such as troop movements, logistical resupply, combat search and rescue and field extraction.

Anticipating the worst, the crews honed their skills with regards to possible threats from the air and the ground, utilising the onboard self-protection systems to the fullest and developing strategies and procedures to cope with threats not previously encountered.

As the SF modified their techniques and procedures, the aviators did likewise, ensuring that the operational focus and tempo was maintained.

While not collocated with their SF comrades, the detachment endured similar types of environmental hardship and isolation that was a feature of service in the Middle East.

Daytime temperatures approached 50 degrees, dropping to sub-zero temperatures at night. Wind squalls that were capable of flipping AH64 helicopters and fine particulate dust that eats away at all moving parts on an aircraft and indeed those that fly and maintain them.

The maintenance and logistic effort required to guarantee operationally taskworthy helicopters in this environment can only be attributed to the professionalism and drive of the maintenance staff and the unit logisticians, both in theatre and in Australia.

Aircraft crews were similarly challenged, undertaking rehearsals of operational plans, by day and night in marginal weather conditions and with the ever present hazard of brownout – where dust blown up by the helicopter downwash obscures the crew’s vision for landing purposes.

Detailed planning, training and numerous rehearsals ensured that these and other operational issues were dealt with in a professional and safe manner.

Commitment of Army aviation assets to the conflict and professionalism exhibited readily justified the raising of 16 Bde (Avn) and reinforced the fact that Army aviation is now an equal member of the combat team.