"Why is he dead?": Red flags raised before deadly military chopper crash | 60 Minutes Australia

They look very impressive, are relatively young, and have cost more than $35 billion to purchase and operate, according to defense department top brass. Although Australia's 46 Taipan helicopters are useless junk, others say they are dangerous, such as we saw tragically. Last July, when one

crash

ed near Hamilton Island, killing four Australian airmen, it is no surprise that they have been decommissioned and, as the story goes, are about to be thrown into a large hole at a defense site. secret, but what if it turns out? These helicopters are not as bad as they tell us. What if, as n News National Affairs Editor Andrew Proin reports, there is another reason for that terrible accident?

At first, Sunday's ingenious passage off the Queensland coast is particularly picturesque, but heartbreakingly all David Nag sees. It's a cemetery, it will always be where I lost it to remember it, a lonely and cold place to die, isn't it? His son Alex's body was never recovered after his helicopter

crash

ed here last year. It's a beautiful part of the world, beautiful but still. The

dead

ly Corporal Alexander Nags was participating in a war games exercise last July known as Talisman Saber, what was intended to be a coordinated display of

military

power with us and international forces ended in the worst defense accident in peaceful time of Australia in almost 20 years, but it shouldn't.

Not so, why is it so important for you to get to the bottom of what happened? I need to know why he's

dead

. You will never walk through the door again. Why do you have all these very capable people? after these planes, very capable people flying them, how the hell did this happen without a single shot being fired? What has it been like trying to obtain information from Defense? um, impossible, it's not just David, the families of three others, Captain Daniel, the left lion, Max Nent and the petty officer. Phil Lok lives with the same pain as we take to the air, there are grave fears for the people of Fort after a helicopter goes down in the ocean off Hamilton Island, the men were aboard an mr90 Taipan helicopter with call sign Bushman 83, it was July 28, the helicopter took off from Prospine with three other taipans shortly after 10 p.m.

It was dark, the weather was bad, and they were flying low at only 200 feet. There was a half moon that night and that is what they accept, but you must have your equipment trusting in it and not let yourself be disappointed around 10:30 Bushman 83. was seen ascending suddenly before pitching abruptly into the water the mission commander in the helicopter at the rear of the formation radioed 83 pull up pull up pull up seconds later the taipan crashed into the sea at high speed yes, they hit the water at a quite heavy rate or knot, so it was a fall from the sky which was the start of the next 8 months trying to figure out what happened, what's going on G and being told, oh I can't tell you it's a secret, it might compromise the investigation.

Do you know what is holding him back? The direct question: Do you know what happened? Tell us tonight, we cut through the secrecy surrounding this controversial aircraft and debunk myths about Taipan safety and ask why the Taipan helicopter fleet has been dismantled and discarded in a Townsville hangar because evidence suggests the likely culprit This accident was not a mechanical problem with the helicopter but something completely different. They know the answers. They have the information to fight. The recorder releases it every day. Still no safe release. You have to think, are they hiding something? David chides that he himself was in the

military

working as an airframe installer on F-111 fighter jets.

He was proud when Alex enlisted. That's what he wanted to do and he was all over the army. He remembers his only son. he is quiet and conscientious if no one listens there is no point in talking it was his basic philosophy was to move on while David says that Alex never wanted to be in the spotlight his death and that of his three companions has changed all that for Disturbing reasons as devastating as this accident were the shocking thing is that there were people within the defense who had warned that such a catastrophe was not only possible, but the defense security experts themselves wrote an alarming report that pointed out serious problems with the navigation equipment that It's critic.

In moments of divided decision, as you will see, red

flags

were not simply overlooked, but seemingly ignored. The taipan was introduced into service in Australia in 2007 to much fanfare. Good morning sir, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this morning's demonstration of the next generation ADF Helicopter, but since the beginning of the CED Choppers controversy, the fleet has been grounded several times with engine problems. Tail Road had issues and software glitches, but it was the tians in running costs that really caught the eye, with $48,000 per hour reportedly being tailored to each helicopter by the end of 2021. The taipans were announced to be retired in 2024, plus a decade ahead of schedule in favor of American-made Black Hawks. the cost of maintaining and flying them became prohibitive 4 months before the Queensland accident, another abandoned taipan in Jaris Bay generated headlines. on safety but the fleet was back flying within a fortnight, the defense's job is to fly in risky environments but do everything it can to reduce the risk and keep its people safe and you can't see how that happened here, the taian. green helicopters Senator David Shrid has been trying to get straight answers from the defense department about the safety of the taipan and what he has discovered is a damaging new narrative about the possible cause of Sunday's

deadly

timber accident, one that had no nothing to do with the helicopter.

As it turns out, the defense was warned in a series of reports that there was a problem with part of the night vision scope worn by taipan pilots and that it was so risky that it could lead to death. This was from the defense's own accredited testing unit. The experts, these were the specialists and when they tested this equipment on this plane they said there was a substantial risk of multiple fatalities unless it was addressed, it wasn't addressed, but that was more of a red flag, wasn't it? This is the type of report that should ground the fleet at substantial risk of multiple fatalities if it does not ground the fleet what makes the fleet ground the pilot's helmet contains a site screen that projects information onto the visor about the way the plane flies is called the Al top and means the pilot doesn't have to look at the instrument panel, it's a piece of equipment that retired pilot Tim Leonard knows well initially, it's really quite overwhelming, there's just a huge amount of information in front of you, so pitch and roll information. is projected to the pilot uh and the vertical speed, whether it's going up or down, I imagine it's even more important when a pilot is flying at night absolutely at night and at a low level this information becomes really very important.

Tim spent 32 years in the Navy. and another decade as a defense contractor, primarily flying helicopters, including the taipan, and served as a squadron commander when flying, critical information about the aircraft's orientation was anchored in the forward view of the upper L hull, so if I turn my head, I lose. that information, but in 2020 a major software update was introduced for the helmet display, as we will reveal that the update came with a significant new risk, how did they approve it? How did they say it's okay to use it in that situation? a report that says if you do this you will end up with dead people, they do, they have dead people in clever defense videos.

The taipan mr90 helicopter appears to be nothing less than a majestic and powerful flying machine, but something went drastically wrong. bad when one of the helicopters plunged into the sea during a training exercise last year killing four airmen David scolds lost his only son Alex the next morning they had the politicians and they all had their uh you know these guys have dead faces and that's when you know this is not a rescue, this is not a search, they know what is happening because the ship was on the ground. The crucial seconds before the crash are now the subject of not one but four separate investigations.

Under pressure, one of the few defense things. Officials have admitted that it was not a mechanical failure of the engine, it is a recorded statement and a fact from the data that was collected from the voice and flight data recorder that at the time of the accident the engines were operating normally. uh that's a fact, that's why the night vision helmets that typan pilots wore, known as top al, are now under scrutiny. Quite a few modifications have been made over the years to the typan as with any aircraft there are improvements and the typan was certainly no different to the technology in the The helmets have been used for years by militaries around the world including Australia , but in 2020 our pilot software was updated and instead of anchoring some crucial flight data to the front of the aircraft, the virtual display critically changed to follow the pilot's line of sight, whatever that may be.

The way it looked, if I look at the actual role from the front, what it would look like out here, would be that against the horizon and that could be interpreted as a nose-down pitch. Retired Taipan pilot Tim Leonard says the modification risked confusing pilots. Especially in high pressure environments, there have been several studies that say that presenting attitude information from the AIS significantly increases the chances of spatial disorientation. It's hard enough to cause more problems, but 3 years before the Queensland accident, defense authorities

raised

major red

flags

. own safety experts on the modifications to the top Al, an experienced test pilot found that it posed a lethal and unacceptable risk because when the plane was in a turn, crucial information was erased if it looked to the side and there was another problem, It was feared that any Rel Reliance on the forward-looking infrared system could be catastrophic if a highly experienced test pilot warns of multiple fatalities.

Surely that should be enough. One would expect it to be difficult to understand how those recommendations, those rather Stark recommendations, could be ignored. The alarming reports. It didn't deter the defense, although they ordered new testing of the helmets, but Green Senator David Shoebridge says it wasn't done properly, so basically the defense tested this equipment on a sunny day and on a moonlit night, never from below and never in situations where the pilots need them most, I would have thought that the response the defense would have taken would be to address the risk of this being potentially catastrophic, but instead they literally sought opinions to try to find a alternative opinion that would allow them to continue flying it after offering the pilots additional training. and update the flight manual Defense Department officials were satisfied that the helmet's new software was secure.

Interestingly, the pilots were also instructed to only look forward when assessing the orientation of their plane and the idea that it would tell the pilot to simply ignore what was happening. on your front screen and consult the main instrument when they conflict. I mean, like I said, it doesn't take an expert to tell you that that's a big problem, that's what they always talk about if you get lost, don't do it. Trust your own body, believe what the instruments tell you, trust the instruments, trust the instruments, but if there is a difference between what you can see in the viewfinder and the other information, that's potentially Fatalis, that makes very difficult things for pilot defense experts.

They told 60 Minutes that there is tension between those who were in charge of security and those who wanted to keep the Choppers in the sky. They say this results in an operational bias in which security risk issues take a backseat. David Scolds is still grappling with the level of risk assumed by defense during the Talisman saber exercise and is furious at the thought that his son Alex might have been flying with faulty equipment - how did they approve that? How did they say it's okay to use it in that situation? You have a report that says yes. this you are going to end up with dead people they do it they have dead people if the decisions made before the accident were not bad enough David is also worried about the consequences some of the investigative bodies investigating the accident such as the Office of Flight Safety Defense and Comare played a role in approving the controversial top navigation equipment for use in the first place, so two of the groups doing the research have also been involved in the HUD signing at some point.

Now it sure looks likestrange. You have two of your four investigative bodies signing off on what could be the definitive proof of all the Taipan helicopter concerns. Maybe the truth is much simpler. What if the worst thing about these machines was simply the gigantic political headache they caused? This suggests there was something peculiar about Australian helicopters, doesn't it? Like any military, the Australian Defense Force wants to be feared for its strength and agility, but these photos of the discarded Taipan helicopter fleet, sitting in a city hangar, reflect nothing. but in a decision made after the fatal crash at Wit Sundays last year, helicopters are now awaiting burial likely in a Queensland pit.

It is absolutely incredible that literally a few months after this incident, the defense decided to dismantle these planes and cut them into pieces. and basically bury the evidence, Green Senator David Shoubridge has been searching for the truth about the safety of the taipan and we have something that might help, information that debunks the Australian opinion L had that Choppers are no good, what does that tell you What is a A piece of paper like that tells you that there is nothing inherently wrong with the Taian helicopter. The helicopter manufacturer's own letter, NH Industries, assures its international customers, including New Zealand, that after the Queensland accident it will not They identified nothing with the engine or airframe and it's clear the Kiwis agreed because they were allowed to go back to their version of the Typan. on air within 2 days of Sunday's ingenious tragedy, there is nothing inherently wrong with the tipan removing all the things that Australia hit him with and these things could have been perfectly safe, what is wrong is all the modifications that the ADF has put on it.

All these things they kept getting reports saying were unsafe, the ADF made multiple modifications to their tians including add-ons like the Al night vision top helmet for pilots, the New Zealand Defense Force does not use that system and he told them. For us there had been no serious problems with their fleet. What happened to Australian helicopters that made it so dangerous? Well, that's exactly what the investigation needs to determine. And obviously I'm not in a position to answer that question. Until we receive the inquiry report It is not unusual for politicians to use official inquiries as convenient camouflage - defense minister Richard Miles insists he cannot interfere.

The NH type industry manufacturer sent a note to its NATO partners saying that the voice had been analyzed and the flight data recorder showed that there was no failure, malfunction or defect. It's here in black and white, which suggests there was something peculiar about Australian helicopters, right? I think we need to take that communication in context. uh the flight data recorder provided information that is reflected in that letter, uh, but again it doesn't answer the question itself. I have spoken to Defense experts who say that there is a tension between those responsible for security and those who have a great interest in maintaining it. helicopters in the air under the current design you have the defense Air Safety Authority and operational units effectively with the same boss, that's in conflict, isn't it?

It is really important that what you are suggesting is looked at and, if there is anything that can be learned here in terms of how our structures operate, we need to learn it from this tragic event, the decision to dismantle the taipans was made despite desperate calls of Ukraine, asked the Australian government to donate its unwanted fleet to the war against Vladimir Putin's Russia, but Ukraine's request was rejected, it is a decision and a logic that former Typan pilot Tim Leonard cannot believe . I think the whole narrative about the Typan being unsafe is wrong, it's not an unsafe plane, it could be an expensive plane. operate but it is not unsafe, so the decision not to consider providing these aircraft to Ukraine, to me it seems a bit, a bit strange, let's say that now Australia is short of helicopters, it has had to rent some helicopters from the British, this It's a shameful ability gap isn't it?

There is a capacity gap and we made that clear when we made the announcement to ground the fleet. It is no small feat to permanently ground our helicopter fleet, but it was the decision we had to make. to get to the future as quickly as possible in an extraordinary concession, even Richard Miles admits that abandoning the Tian fleet in favor of American Blackhawks had nothing to do with security, well what do I mean, we made the decision to pass from Taipans to Blackhawks, which was not about safety, it was about having a reliable and more cost effective airframe to transport troops and that was a decision that was made before this terrible accident.

David scolds that he's fed up, he doesn't care about politics, he just wants the truth about his son Alex's death and as the helicopter he was in hit the water with such devastating force, I gave them a DNA sample, they had something like that. about the size of a 20 cent coin that responds to my DNA, so that's it, I mean 20 C the The funeral was with an empty casket that there was no way you could have fit it into. Yes, there is nothing prohibited here. Everything that can be examined will be examined so that we understand and learn in the deepest way possible what occurred that night. someone will be found responsible for the deaths of Fort Aon uh well we will get to the bottom of what happened um in relation to their deaths we certainly will.

I know Alex had great respect for all the guys he was with. flew with him and I know that there are people who remember them very much and fondly and pay them my greatest respect. Hi, I'm Amelia Adams, thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia. Subscribe to our channel now to see new stories and exclusive clips every week. Don't miss our bonus minute segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on .com. Oh and now up