Fed: Defence force ignored call for safety upgrades, inquiry told

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2006
Fed: Defence force ignored call for safety upgrades, inquiry told

By Adam Gartrell

SYDNEY, Feb 14 AAP - The defence force chose to "accept the risk" posed by unsafe seats
on its Sea King helicopters, ignoring calls for an upgrade that may have saved the lives
of those killed in a crash in Indonesia, an inquiry was told today.

Nine Australian service personnel were killed and another two injured when the Shark02
helicopter crashed on the remote Indonesian island of Nias during a mercy mission last
April.

The 30-year-old chopper was taking medical aid to the island in the wake of the 2004
Boxing Day tsunami and a later earthquake.

Just 20 metres above the ground, it "nosed over" and crashed into a soccer field before
flipping and bursting into flames.

A defence board inquiry into the crash was today told the Shark02's passenger seats
were fitted with standard lap belts which were not designed to protect wearers in the
event of a crash.

This was despite a recommendation stemming from a previous defence board inquiry into
a 1995 Sea King crash at Bamaga in northern Queensland, which called for upgraded seats
fitted with shoulder harnesses.

In an address to the board today, a member of the counsel assisting team, Lieutenant
Matthew Vesper, said the seats had been identified after the Bamaga crash as "lacking
suitable crash resistance".

But Mr Vesper said that over the course of eight years the Bamaga recommendation was
"effectively abandoned".

The defence force temporarily stopped flying passengers in its Sea Kings in 1999 as
a result of the safety concerns, but resumed again in December 2003 without upgrading
the seating, he said.

Director General Technical Airworthiness, Air Commodore Noel Schmidt, after conducting
a safety review into the aircraft in September 2003, wrote to the navy: "New seats would
be expensive and difficult to install. Possible reductions in capability. Accept risk."

Lt Vesper said the failure to provide adequate seating had resulted in "a significant
deficiency in occupant survivability".

Army Major Douglas Randell, who headed the Aircraft Accident Investigation Team which
looked into the Nias disaster, today told the board he believed shoulder harnesses would
have improved the chances of survival for those onboard Shark02.

The seating was inadequate and failed in crash survivability standards, he said.

Maj Randell also said the Sea Kings should be fitted with "crashworthy fuel systems"

designed to contain fuel and oils in the event of a crash, thus minimising the risk of
fire.

The installation of such a system would also have improved the chances of survival
for those aboard Shark02, he said.

The US defence force has retrofitted its choppers with the systems, and have recorded
a dramatic reduction in crashes resulting in fires and fire-related crash fatalities,
he said.

AAP ag/was/evt/de

KEYWORD: SEAKING NIGHTLEAD

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