Army - The Soldiers' Newspaper

The last of 5 Avn Det's Black Hawk helicopters take to the sky from Dili's Comoro Airport on their return flight to Australia on May 25.
Photo by Capt John McPherson, MPALO-ANCE

The Blackhawks land at RAAF Townsville on May 27, finally home.
Photo by Maj Grant King, LHQ

Flight of the Black Hawks
5 Avn Regt's five years of service in East Timor comes to an end

By Major Chris Rosenthal
WHEN the last of the Black Hawk helicopters flew out of East Timor on Tuesday, May 25, it signalled the final chapter in the tremendous aerial support role provided by 5 Avn Regt Det for almost five years.

5 Avn Regt first deployed a detachment to East Timor as part of Interfet in September 1999 and was originally based at the Dili Heliport. It relocated to Balibo during Op Tanager in July 2000 and finally to Moleana during Op Citadel in April 2002.

The regiment's personnel were among the first soldiers deployed into Dili in 1999 and will be some of the last to leave in 2004.

With a current unit strength of 43, and under the command of Maj Robyn Johnston, the primary role of the Moleana detachment has been to provide a 24-hour aero medical evacuation (AME) capability as well as insertion and extraction of immediate reaction force (IRF) personnel.

To meet the AME requirement, the unit has two AME-qualified medical personnel attached: the last two being Maj Ken Smith and Cpl Greg Sinnott.

The team had a direct backup capability provided by the hospital surgical team (HST) at WESTBATT.

Although all AME tasks were equally important, they occasionally took on special significance in situations such at the time when our aircrew and "Doc" were called on to assist a local woman who had been in labour for three days. The end result was the delivery of a healthy baby girl.

The flying troop consisted of a diverse combination of two pilots and two loadmasters who invariably bonded together strongly into a team known simply as the aircrew. In all there were three such aircrews under the direction of troop commander Capt Tony Dennis.

The aircrew was permanently on 30 minutes notice to move for AME or IRF operations, although a typical AME launch was achieved in less than 20 minutes from the initial notice of tasking.

The requirement for 24-hour coverage was achieved by having a dedicated day crew and night crew with the third crew - called the extra crew - responsible for preparing the spare aircraft during an AME launch to minimise delays in the event of the primary aircraft becoming unserviceable.

An essential element of the unit that's sometimes overlooked was the work of the detachment's RAEME tradesmen under the leadership of the "Ace" WO2 David French. Their role was to maintain the serviceability of the aircraft 24-hours-a-day in all weather conditions.

This detachment had been required to carry out a myriad of tasks including changing the engines on aircraft and completing the first transmission change on an Australian Black Hawk outside Australia. Without the unit's tradesmen the aircraft would simply not fly.

Overseeing the smooth running of 5 Avn Regt detachment was the headquarters element.

They were responsible for areas such as the Q-Store, the repair parts store, the ground crewmen who supported the aircraft and mission with activities such as refuelling and fitting armaments (missiles etc.) - and who all combined to maintain the operational and logistical integrity of the unit.

A full range of the operations was in place with 24-hour hot refuelling and communications support available.

THE commitment to East Timor of 5 Avn Regt has come to an end.
Shortly after midday on Thursday May 27, three Black Hawk helicopters from B Sqn touched down in Townsville; their arrival bringing to a close a chapter of the regiment's history that commenced in September 1999 during Interfet.

The Black Hawks' primary role was to provide aero medical evacuation and other support at short notice to move 24 hours a day. The detachment also provided general aviation support for the Australian contingent.

Since those first six aircraft arrived in Dili on September 22 1999, (D+2) there have been 15 rotations, each tour lasting three months.

"Everyone who's deployed to East Timor can be proud of the job they've done," OC B Sqn Capt Andrew Gordon said.

"Their dedication and professionalism has been brilliant, completely focused on the mission, every one of them can be extremely proud of their achievements."

During the regiment's time in East Timor, (up till May 13) it flew 10,203 hours, without loss of equipment or injury and deployed in excess of 600 personnel. Most members deployed to East Timor at least once, many have had two or more tours of duty with one member completing five tours.

"5 Avn Regt gets the credit for doing the job in East Timor, however, it couldn't have done the job without the support it received from the complete Army Aviation capability," Maj Dave South, 5 Avn Regimental Liaison Officer, said.

2IC 5 Avn Regt Maj Rick Williams said, "the Regiment is now looking forward to re-establishing the unit's full air-mobile capability in support of 3 Bde and the wider Army, something we haven't been able to do since the commencement of our involvement in Timor Leste [East Timor]."