On November 29, 2006, the Australian HMAS Kanimbla landing platform amphibious ship
was taking part in intense anti-terrorism exercises off the coast of Fiji
that entailed extracting personnel from hostile zones in record times.
The Australian Defense Force was rehearsing the expedited
evacuation of Australian nationals from Fiji in the event of a sudden coup.
In a daring attempt to make the landing section of the exercise even quicker
than in previous attempts, UH-60 Black Hawk 221 swooped down into the landing deck at
dangerous speeds while carrying four crew and six soldiers from the Special Air Service Regiment.
A sailor then captured the shocking moment in which the helicopter slammed into Kanimbla’s deck,
shattered its tail while spectacularly bouncing, and then plunged into the sea.
Chaos ensued, and every second was crucial in the desperate attempt to
rescue the passengers from the sinking helicopter as the sea swallowed them…
Chaos in Paradise
In 2006, Fiji was experiencing severe social unrest. The tiny nation had already faced
four coups in the last two decades, and a fifth violent one was looming.
Fueled by ethnic and religious differences, the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces,
Commodore Frank Bainimarama, threatened to seize power
from the democratically elected President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.
The world took Bainimarama’s warning as seriously as possible,
as this would not be his first coup. The revered military leader
had already forced two presidents to resign while holding absolute power over Fiji’s armed forces.
It was a delicate situation for the Australian military forces; the relationship between
Bainimarama and Australian authorities was abysmal, and Australia feared that Australian
Nationals in Fiji would face violent consequences when the coup took place.
Australia and Fiji had shared a strong bond going back to their shared origins as British penal
colonies, and as the decades passed, Australia had invested significantly in the tiny nation.
Its assets in the region were considerable.
After every negotiation failed, Australia prepared for the worst-case scenario:
the expedited extraction of high-risk Australian citizens from Fijian soil.
Intense Exercises
If Bainimarama decided to move against Australian personnel when he started his coup,
the Australian Defense Force would have to act fast.
Australia’s Naval forces in the region were limited,
and they would have to do a lot with minimal assets.
Consequently, the men conducting the task had to be prepared for a fierce and relentless operation.
Whether it was due to the urgent situation or an overall can-do culture,
the exercises performed by the Australian servicemen soon went beyond the search
for excellence and efficiency and into the dangerous and reckless territory.
As the exercises progressed, members of the 171 Squadron became increasingly more aggressive
during their flying operations until they essentially erased any margin of error.
This was especially risky during landing maneuvers, in which pilots would come
in at lower altitudes and higher speeds in an attempt to complete their missions in less time.
The gradual change toward riskier flying behavior was also combined with a lack of
adequate supervision, the pressure of giving the best performance possible,
the relocation of the Sydney squadron, and the high stress involved in special operations.
The combination of these factors led to a drastic decrease in safety measures.
Air Chief Marshal Houston would later explain: (QUOTE) “They eventually got
to a situation where they were flying on the absolute limit ... they went past the
right balance of safety and mission achievement.”
Despite the pilots’ daredevil attitude, the Australian authorities had to admit
that the pilots involved in the operational exercises were under the impression that
their flying behavior was authorized and within the limits of safety regulations.
A Fateful Day
The day of the accident was similar to previous exercises where the Black Hawk
221 crew was rehearsing an operation for the urgent extraction of VIPs from a hostile region.
The helicopter carried four crew and six soldiers from the Special Air Service Regiment
as it approached HMAS Kanimbla for a swift and determined landing
as was needed in a particular operation like the one they were rehearsing.
This time, however, the ever-increasing intensity
and recklessness the pilot had shown for the past few months reached an all-time high,
exceeding the aircraft’s capabilities and surpassing all safety measures.
As the Black Hawk descended rapidly, no margin for error was left for the hasty landing,
and a pilot miscalculation led the helicopter into an uncontrollable descent.
Instead of a soft touchdown over Kanimbla’s deck, Black Hawk 221 forcibly slammed against the
surface to then tilt violently towards the rear, shattering its rotor tail against the ship’s deck.
With no way to control the aircraft and still being dragged by an overwhelming momentum,
the helicopter bounced off the deck and fell overboard into the sea depth.
A sense of dread and urgency overwhelmed the crew of Kanimbla
as the helicopter was instantly swallowed by the sea, and they lost sight of it.
The impact had been significant but not lethal, so the sailors suspected
that the helicopter’s crew was likely fighting to free themselves from the plummeting wreck.
Rescue boats were immediately dropped, as a single second could be crucial
in saving the trapped helicopter passengers.
However, despite the heroic attempts to rescue everyone,
the helicopter kept sinking, preventing the sailors on the surface from reaching the wreck.
Impressively, most of the passengers managed to escape the doomed Black Hawk,
and they were quickly rescued by their fellow servicemen. But as time dragged on
and some of the men still didn’t surface, a piercing fear invaded the air.
Sometime later, Captain Mark Bingley was rescued from the water and taken to the ship,
but despite the medical staff’s efforts, he did not survive.
The depths also took Special Air Service Trooper Joshua Porter,
who never managed to escape from the helicopter. It would take weeks
for the remains of the trooper to be rescued from the seabed to be delivered to his family.
Aftermath
The incident was a humiliating blow for the Australian Defense Force,
and the ensuing investigations forced the organization to completely revamp
its safety regulations and supervision protocols.
Due to the numerous factors that led to the accident,
no single individual or group of individuals was persecuted.
After all investigations regarding the crash were
concluded, the final report authorized by Supreme Court justice David Lavine
found that the leading cause of the crash was pilot error, but it also added that this could
not be viewed as the only factor and that no individual blame should be placed on the captain.
The accident was deemed the result of a culmination of different factors
ranging from procedure to personnel attitude to supervision faults and, of course, pilot error.
Still, Captain Mark Bingley’s wife, Melissa Bingley, was disappointed by the resolution,
arguing that the Defence Force’s Black Hawk helicopter’s safety features were deficient.
She also pleaded for the fitting of flotation devices on the helicopters.
In her view, if the aircraft had not sunk so fast,
her husband and Trooper Porter would have had more time to get out.
Additionally, the widow criticized the lack
of underwater escape training for pilots and crew members.
Years later, an audit procedure found that the safety and supervising regulations
had drastically improved aboard Australian Defense Force ships.
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