Australian Defense Ministry: No Survivors in Helicopter Crash

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Facts

  • A search and rescue effort to find four Australian crew members in an army helicopter that crashed last Friday has become a recovery operation, with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles telling reporters Monday that there's no chance of survivors.1
  • An Australian Defence Force MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crashed into the ocean off the coast of Queensland during the biennial joint US-Australia Talisman Sabre military exercises. Army chief Lt. Gen. Simon Stuart said four members of the 6th Aviation Regiment were on board.2
  • While initial investigations attempted to rescue the four men — revealed to be Capt. Daniel Lyon, Lt. Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Joseph Laycock, and Cpl. Alexander Naggs — authorities have lost hope and are investigating the cause of the tragedy.3
  • In the wake of the catastrophic crash on Friday, Lt. Gen. Stuart says the army’s 45 MRH-90 Taipans will be grounded until they are proven to be safe to fly. The aging planes had been recalled before and are set to be replaced by US-made Black Hawks.1
  • Marles didn’t comment on acquiring Black Hawks sooner but did note that grounding the MRH-90s will impact Australia's capabilities. Though there were no casualties in another MRH-90 incident in March, flights were paused for a month while the government took steps to "mitigate" risks.4
  • Despite the incident, the Talisman Sabre exercise, which involves 13 nations and more than 30K military personnel, continued Monday. Defense Force Chief Gen. Angus Campbell thanked the US and Canada for helping in the search efforts and said the helicopter’s wreckage is too deep for standard diving operations.5

Sources: 1BBC News, 2Reuters, 3Associated Press, 4Guardian, and 5ABC News.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Financial Review. The MRH-90 Taipan helicopter had a number of fatal flaws which were abundantly clear, yet Australia’s army continued to fly this dangerous vehicle while waiting for its new Black Hawk helicopters. Unfortunately, this mistake led to the deaths of four men in a completely avoidable tragedy. Just months earlier, a Taipan also had an accident thanks to its structural issues, yet it resumed flying a month later. These helicopters were never safe, and this accident was tragically avoidable.
  • Narrative B, as provided by APDR. There has been a lot of talk about the MRH-90 Taipan helicopter, with critics claiming the aircraft itself is fundamentally flawed. However, Australia’s bigger problem is with how the Taipan is used operationally rather than its manufacturing. Other countries using the MRH, like neighboring New Zealand, have far fewer issues. The MRH-90 is not a perfect helicopter, but blaming its manufacturing and completely scrapping its use ignores some very important details.