King of the sea
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Maintenance
personnel onboard HMAS Kanimba prepare a Sea King Helicopter from
817 Squadron RAN. The two Sea Kings on Kanimbla have worked long
hours moving troops and equipment ashore and conducting humanitarian
aid flights. In the background is the devastated coastline of
Banda Aceh.
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Leading
Seaman Scott Bennet, an air crewman with 817 Squadron, Royal Australian
Navy, keeps the pilot of his Sea King helicopter informed of the
distance left to the ground as the helicopter lands on HMAS Kanimbla.
Two Sea King helicopters are deployed on HMAS Kanimbla as part
of Operation Sumatra Assist.
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Leading
Seaman Jeff Weber, an air crewman with 817 Squadron, Royal Australian
Navy, keeps the pilot of his Sea King helicopter informed of the
distance left to the ground as the helicopter lands at Banda Aceh
Hospital, where the Anzac Field Hospital is located. Two Sea King
helicopters are deployed on HMAS Kanimbla as part of Operation
Sumatra Assist.
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Leading
Seaman Jeff Weber, an air crewman with 817 Squadron, Royal Australian
Navy, keeps watch from the cargo door of his Sea King helicopter.
Two Sea King helicopters are deployed on HMAS Kanimbla as part
of Operation Sumatra Assist.
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By
Corporal Cameron Jamieson - filed 31 January 2005
Banda
Aceh has become the temporary home to many helicopters of different
makes and operating countries.
Among
the blur of rotor blades that cross the sky can be seen two of the most
reliable workhorses of the sky - Sea King helicopters of 817 Sqn RAN.
Deployed
onboard HMAS Kanimbla, the two Sea Kings helped land the first elements
of the combat engineers that came ashore from Kanimbla, and ever since
they been regular operators in the skies over the Indonesian province
of Aceh.
For
the aircrewmen that keep order in the back of the 'Kings', the sights
that met them on arrival off Banda Aceh were very disturbing.
According
to Leading Seaman Aircrewman Scott Bennet, the destruction was beyond
comprehension.
"The
thing that sticks in my mind is the amount of destruction - trying to
fathom how big the wave was that came through this place," he said.
LS
Jeff Weber recalled how bodies still littered the sea, but they had
to push any thoughts of death aside in order to complete the task at
hand.
"When
we first got here we helped 1Combat Engineer Regiment to get their equipment
into Banda Aceh," he said.
"It's
been very busy, although we've had one spare back-seater and one spare
pilot, so we've been rotating crews every five days, which is good.
"More
recently we have been involved in humanitarian aid work, flying as far
south as Meulaboh, and that's been quite rewarding work."
The
Sea King has a great reputation for hauling heavy loads over long distances,
a feature that is being used to good use in Aceh, with each aircraft
clocking up about 60 hours of flying time since they departed Sydney.
For
the aircrew, the Sea King has more than proved its worth on Operation
Sumatra Assist.
"The
amount of work we can do, and how much stuff we can move ashore, makes
life for the guys on board easier and we can move the Army quicker than
just using LCM8s and the ships boats," LS Bennet said. "It's a good
workhorse."
