Engine failure caused helicopter to ditch in Jervis Bay
A broken engine component has been identified as the "primary" cause of an army helicopter accident in March, months before another crash which killed four soldiers. The ABC can reveal preliminary investigations into both incidents have ruled out any links between the two.
Transcript
00:00 There have now been two high profile accidents involving Army's Taipan or MRH90 helicopter,
00:10 which has now been retired early from service.
00:13 But the second of these incidents resulted in the death of four soldiers.
00:20 Earlier this year, though, in March, there was a ditching of a Tiger helicopter into
00:24 Jervis Bay and we've now learnt of the findings of the preliminary investigations.
00:31 It's identified that a fan blade that was broken in one of the engines of that Taipan
00:37 helicopter has been identified as the primary cause of that incident.
00:43 It resulted in several injuries but no deaths.
00:47 And then four months later, we saw that tragedy off the Whitsundays where another Taipan helicopter
00:54 was brought down and investigations have ruled out any similar problem with the engine in
01:02 that deadly incident.
01:04 But in any case, the Defence Minister Richard Miles has been asked today about the finding
01:09 into the first accident with the broken fan blade.
01:13 It was a problem that was first identified with the Taipan chopper back in 2012.
01:19 There was a non-mandatory recommendation for a modification to be done on the Taipans and
01:27 it wasn't on this particular helicopter.
01:30 Let's hear from Defence Minister Richard Miles speaking to the ABC.
01:35 The engine fault has been identified.
01:40 There was a recommendation, not a mandatory requirement from the operator of the aircraft
01:49 around that.
01:52 There's been a process of putting those rectifications in place in respect of the guidelines that
01:59 have been issued by the manufacturer, by Airbus, and that's what the Army were doing in relation
02:08 to this.
02:09 So, that was happening in accordance with the instructions that were being provided
02:13 by Airbus and obviously those rectifications in the aftermath of that were completed.
02:21 Defence Minister Richard Miles speaking to the ABC earlier.
02:24 Now coincidentally, today Defence officials are appearing before Senate estimates and
02:30 in his opening statement to the committee, General Angus Campbell, the Chief of Defence,
02:36 has addressed the four separate investigations that are now underway into both of these incidents
02:42 involving the Taipan helicopter.
02:45 He says that he won't be able to comment on any specifics of the investigation so far,
02:51 but let's hear from General Campbell.
02:54 There are currently four ongoing investigations into the July incident.
03:00 The Defence Flight Safety Bureau, the Queensland Coroner, Comcare and the Inspector General
03:06 of the Australian Defence Force are carrying out these investigations, each of which have
03:11 their relevant statutory authorities and responsibilities.
03:15 Defence is committed to supporting all of these investigations.
03:19 I won't be able to comment nor speculate on possible causes of the incident and the government's
03:25 decision for the MH90 fleet to no longer fly does not suggest the outcome of any of these
03:33 investigations.
03:34 It's important that incident investigations are allowed to pursue all lines of inquiry
03:39 and I'm advised that this may take up to 12 months or more to complete.
03:44 As we've just heard from the Defence Chief, this could be a very long investigation process,
03:49 he says up to 12 months, so expect that to stretch well into next year, perhaps even
03:55 the second half of next year.
03:57 Already we know from the preliminary investigations into the Whitsundays crash, which killed four
04:03 soldiers, investigators have looked at factors that are already known, such as the weather,
04:09 the route that was planned to be taken by the helicopter during the training exercise
04:15 and the eventual route.
04:16 But we also understand that investigators are very likely to look at night vision equipment
04:22 that was being used by the pilots of the aircraft.
04:26 Of course, as the Defence Chief says, this is now the subject of four investigations
04:32 and it could be a lengthy period, but already investigators have ruled out that an engine
04:39 fault as seen in the March ditching of a Taipan has been ruled out.
04:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]