Posted on 12/16/2006 10:40:17 PM PST by naturalman1975
THE Navy will use more high tech equipment to determine whether it is practical to try to reach the Army Black Hawk helicopter which crashed into the sea of Fiji last month, killing two defence personnel.
The Navy has now pinpointed the location of the Black Hawk's locator beacon nearly 3km under the sea.
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The Navy said a special pinger locating drone, borrowed from the US Navy, was towed by the survey ship HMAS Melville and located the beacon on its first pass over the crash site on Friday.
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The Black Hawk crashed into the sea on November 29 as it sought to land aboard the amphibious support ship HMAS Kanimbla, part of an Australian task group on stand-by to evacuate Australian nationals off Fiji in the event of a military coup.
The pilot Captain Mark Bingley and Special Air Service Regiment Trooper Josh Porter were killed. Trooper Porter's body has not been recovered and may remain trapped in the helicopter wreckage on the sea floor.
Navy Maritime Commander Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas said he had been impressed with the professional manner with which the search had been conducted by the Melville's sailors and the US contractors who operated the drone.
"I want to pay particular thanks to the US Navy and their contractor Phoenix International for their very prompt provision of this specialised equipment," he said in a statement.
The Melville has now started the return voyage to her home port of Cairns and is expected home before Christmas.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
........as an old chrewchief...I aint sure if they recover your bones is important or not......BUT somebody better remember.
The Black Hawk crashed into the sea on November 29 as it sought to land aboard the amphibious support ship HMAS Kanimbla, part of an Australian task group on stand-by to evacuate Australian nationals off Fiji in the event of a military coup.
I assume they wish to determine if the crash was Pilot error or mechanical failure.
Yes.
Pilot error is the current assumption, but we just don't know.
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