Tindal to the rescue
US pilot walks away from crash of Hornet

By Andrew Stackpool

Some of the first response SAR crew who rescued the US Marine Corps F/A-18C pilot from the crash site, from left, firefighter LAC Damien Dawes, CHC Helicopters pilots Andrew Tension-Woods and Geoff Browne and their aircrewman Peter Bale.

Photo by SGT Mark McIntyre

“AS CHOPPER 4 was approaching the crash site, I saw the burning wreckage, which was fully engulfed in flame,” Corporal Damien Dawes said.

This was no drill. It was a real emergency that confronted CPL Dawes, from RAAF Base Tindal’s fire section, and his colleagues aboard the rescue helicopter on September 14.

Shortly after 3.30pm on that day, a US Marine Corps F/A-18C taking part in Exercise Southern Frontier 04 at Tindal was holding 10 nautical miles to the southwest of the base when it disappeared off radar.

The pilot didn’t respond to any radio calls and an emergency beacon began sounding. Almost immediately, Tindal Air Traffic Control spotted a plume of black smoke rising about five nautical miles away and sounded the crash alarm.

They alerted the base emergency services that the Hornet had crashed to the southwest of the base.

The emergency procedures swung into action. Acting base commander Wing Commander Chris O’Beirne and the base search and rescue officer, Flight Lieutenant Adrian Buckley, manned the base command post with about a dozen personnel.

As Tindal ramped up, two nearby US Marine Corps C-130s were tasked to search for the downed aircraft while the contracted rescue organisation, CHC Helicopters, scrambled its S76 SAR helicopter under command of CHC Tindal manager Geoff Browne.

Base doctor Squadron Leader William Pettigrew and medical assistant Leading Aircraftwoman Phoebe Bentick embarked with CPL Dawes. One of the Hercules saw a parachute and advised the chopper as it closed the site.

CPL Dawes was the first fireman to the crash site and acted as incident site commander.

“The crewman told me that the pilot had ejected so our objective was to locate him,” CPL Dawes said. “As we neared his position, he shot a signal flare into the air. We did two circuits of his position and winched the doctor down.

The helicopter pilot did two more circuits to find a suitable area to land. We landed. I disembarked and went to where the pilot was with the doctor. Shortly after, they boarded Chopper 4 and returned to Tindal.

I remained at the crash site until the land rescue team arrived on the scene.” He then handed over incident site commander duties to Sergeant Dennis Miles.

The pilot had fired an orange smoke signal and rescuers were relieved to see him walking around. Medical section personnel attended to him on site before flying him to the base medical facility.

Only about 30 minutes had elapsed from the initial alarm to the pilot’s safe return to Tindal’s medical facility. He was examined and found to have suffered only minor abrasions.

He returned to his unit the following day.

With the pilot safe, the land rescue team moved in to make the crash scene safe and to preserve evidence.

The team, under the command of Warrant Officer Pat O’Shea, comprised about 30 personnel, mounted on four 4WD vehicles with a SAR trailer, a fire section of a truck and four crew, and SECPOL members, including two dogs.

Various specialists included the base aviation safety officer, Squadron Leader Robert Williams, the environmental health officer, another two medics and a photographer.

They were joined by a contingent of Marine Corps personnel, while the Directorate of Flying Safety and US Marine Corps accident investigation team arrived a few days later.

Stabilisation of the site continued on September 15 and a familiar domestic cleaning product came into its own to reduce the hazard from burnt carbon fibres.

Fireman Corporal John Ring was in charge of decontaminating procedures at the site.

“I briefed my crew on the de-con procedures and they applied floor polish to the aircraft wreckage,” CPL Ring said.

“They did this in a very timely and professional manner. I only let them work 20 to 30 minute shifts, to reduce their exposure to possible aircraft hazards and to minimize dehydration.

“When we were finished, we escorted a Marine ordnance member to the wreckage to make safe any ordnance.

Once he declared the aircraft safe, I completed a final reconnoitre of the site to 50m out from the wreckage. I then liaised with the environmental health officer, after which US Marine Corps investigators and photographers were allowed onto the site.”

FLTLT Buckley said the land rescue team had only just completed a twomonth SAR training program and the helicopter crew had conducted a practice emergency only five days before the crash.

“They were all well trained and well equipped and this was reflected in their performance over the next few days,” FLTLT Buckley said.

“They all had a good knowledge of the roles they had to perform to achieve the overall task. There are still learning outcomes as a result of the events that unfolded, but overall the base SOPs proved to be a very effective tool to manage the emergency.

I think it was a very successful SAR response.”

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