Choppers rotate in Timor-Leste By Flt-Lt Lauretta Webster
Edition 1172, August 9, 2007
Welcome: New Timor-Leste Aviation Group OC Maj Roger Woods greets incoming pilot Capt Andrew Scheiffers. Photo by AB Kade Rogers
AFTER four months of operating 24-hour shifts and providing a responsive aviation capability to JTF 631, the Timor-Leste Aviation Group (TLAG) has handed over to the next incumbents.
Members from 5 Avn Regt, 1 Avn Regt and 171 Avn Sqn – who form the TLAG of JTF 631 – returned to Australia last week.
TLAG OC Maj Andrew Johnstone said the detachment contributed significantly to the Timor-Leste elections and provided air mobility support to the International Security Force (ISF).
“Throughout the 30-day election period our detachment conducted 20 helicopter tasks in direct support of the elections,” he said.
“Given their adaptability, the Black Hawks were able to deliver and retrieve ballot boxes into some of the most regional areas of Timor-Leste. Over a three-day period alone, the detachment provided this service to 28 sites and seven districts during both day and night and in a variety of weather conditions.
“The New Zealand Air Force, also a part of the TLAG, provided UH-1H helicopters ... to assist in the delivery and retrieval of ballot boxes. They operated predominantly in the western and central districts.
“The significance of this is that it provided the opportunity for many Timorese people to be able to vote for the first time in the presidential and parliamentary elections, a democratic right they may not been granted otherwise.
Other significant achievements by the detachment included the evacuation of more than 10 ISF members from remote areas of the country because of accidents or illness.
