Families, pilot demand justice for dead Australian soldiers

Lyon and Nugent were wearing TopOwl helmets, which Wilson concluded in 2020 were an “unacceptable risk to flight safety.”

Their Taipan, callsign Bushman 83, was flying low with three other helicopters in bad weather and with no visible horizon; The conditions Wilson warned would expose airmen to fatal risk, including “controlled flight into terrain.”

“My report warned that if this system were to be relied upon in exactly these conditions, it would lead to exactly the kind of accident we had. This was the nightmare I had foreseen,” he said.

In 2019, Wilson was asked to test updated software on the TopOwl helmet, known as 5.10.

The pilot, one of Australia’s most experienced and qualified test pilots with more than 8,500 flying hours, ruled the helmet was not airworthy after discovering a serious error in the symbols projected on the visor when the pilot looked left or right.

“It made Pitch look like a bank. So that’s completely wrong,” Wilson said. “If I look to the side, the slope has turned into a bank.”

It also found that the helmet’s night vision was inadequate, with 50 percent less visibility compared to other systems.

In 2020, Wilson and his colleagues in the Army Aviation Test and Evaluation Division wrote a formal report recommending to Defense not to proceed with the upgrade.

But given that Defense spent millions of dollars on its rollout, Wilson said senior officials were determined to field version 5.10 and approved it after ordering another department to retest the version in less hazardous conditions.

“I think it’s all a scam. They confined themselves to good conditions. Yes, it was night, but it was good conditions where they were risk averse.”

It’s a risk that families of the four airmen say is symptomatic of a deeper cultural malaise within Defense.

Families speak out

During the official investigation into the crash, the families of the four men gathered hours of evidence about the events leading up to the disaster and the night of the disaster.

They came to their own conclusions about who was responsible and united to speak out publicly to get justice for the deaths of their loved ones and ensure it never happens again.

Caitland Lyon, widow of Danniel Lyon, who piloted the doomed plane, said Defense had failed to protect the men.

“They took them away from us because they were so busy climbing promotions and checking their own boxes that they forgot there were real people. There were real people on those planes,” Lyon said.

She also shudders when she remembers the conversation her husband had with co-workers about the TopOwl helmet long before the accident.

“He came home and told me it was the first time he had flown using the TopOwl helmet and they went for takeoff. He said to his captain, ‘Oh, wait. My TopOwl is going nuts.'”

He said his captain laughed and said, ‘No problem.’ You’ll get used to it.’ “And that confused Dan a lot. This was supposed to be a great piece of equipment, but he still couldn’t see outside.”

Dan and Marianna Nugent, parents of co-pilot Max Nugent, say their son voiced similar concerns about the helmet’s night vision capabilities.

“It’s not as clear as normal night vision or traditional night vision, which he much prefers, it’s not as good,” Dan Nugent said. “These are his exact words: ‘I much preferred using conventional night vision ANVIS-9.'”

After Wilson and his colleagues in the testing division concluded that the TopOwl upgrade posed a “significant risk of multiple fatalities,” Defense authorized the helmet’s rollout following a process called an “operational evaluation.”

But as a precaution, Defense instructed pilots to trust the key symbols on the helmet only when looking directly ahead.

Dan Nugent is scathing about the decision to field TopOwl despite warnings.

“From my perspective it looks like they tried to bypass the system. They just got around,” he says.

Caitland Lyon says Defense’s workaround disgusts her.

“It’s nauseating in a way I can’t describe. It’s like trying not to look left or right while driving. Giving him equipment that teaches him not to look is just negligence,” he said.

Dianne Laycock and her husband, Wayne, said their frustration was evident in hearing Wilson’s evidence during the inquest.

“We were shocked that the test pilots issued a report saying, ‘There is something wrong with this software, it could lead to a controlled flight into terrain and someone could die,’ but the military went ahead with this software upgrade anyway,” Dianne said.

Nagg’s fiancée Sarah Loft said she found Wilson “intriguing” and that it revealed a “toxic” culture within the Defence.

“I could accept it if they died in the war. I could accept it even if they were shot in Afghanistan.” he said. “I can’t accept negligence. Because what we saw in these hearings was that senior people were pointing fingers at each other and no one was taking responsibility or accountability for their decisions.”

The Commonwealth’s work safety organization Comcare conducted its own investigation into the accident and recommended that Defense face criminal prosecution for the rollout of TopOwl 5.10 and fatigue management.

Defense experts testified before the inquest that the men were chronically fatigued at the time of the crash, which was equivalent to a low to moderate blood alcohol level.

In July, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to take action against the Defence.

Caitland Lyon said it was another blow for the families. “We are devastated. Again, Defense controls Defense. Commonwealth controls Commonwealth. Of course, they’re not going to sue themselves,” he said.

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Wilson says the TopOwl’s shortcomings were revealed twice on that tragic night, and he used official data to reconstruct the final 21 seconds to show how the helmet directly contributed to the spatial disorientation experienced by pilots.

The bureau’s report stated that Bushman 83 made an accidental climb at 22.36, but Wilson said Defense did not take into account how the TopOwl was performing and that the pilot had to keep his plane aligned with the two helicopters in front of him.

“Under these conditions, he can’t see the details of the plane in front of him. All he can see is droplets floating in space,” Wilson says.

With no visible horizon and the Bushman 82 flying slightly high, Wilson says Lyon did what any experienced pilot would do: He tried to realign his plane, but in doing so he pointed its nose downwards, causing the helicopter to gain speed.

Although the bureau said the pilots were likely looking “through” the symbols projected into the TopOwl visor to maintain focus on the leading Taipan, flight data shows that the cursed Taipan was flying over the Bushman 82 helicopter flying ahead.

Wilson says it was at this point that Lyon was exposed to TopOwl’s shortcomings for the second time: the reversal of pitch and roll in the viewfinder when the pilot looks off-axis.

When Lyon lost sight of the Bushman 82 below him, he quickly lowered his helicopter to get a look at it again.

That’s when Lyon would have to look off-axis.

“He knows 82 is dangerously close to him,” Wilson said. “They’re at risk of a collision, so he has to maintain vision with it. He would quickly turn his head to the side to find 82.”

Wilson said that when Lyon looked forward, the symbols on the helmet told him that the plane was ascending rapidly while flying straight.

“He was in trouble,” he said. “He felt disoriented, like he was experiencing dizziness, dizziness, dizziness. He was now looking forward as he realized he was in trouble. He knows he was being told to trust his instruments.”

“In this confused state, he starts looking forward with his head up. His inner ear will tell him that his body is moving up, but he won’t know if it’s his body or the plane itself.”

“The only logical thing for him to do at that moment was to jam the stick into the dashboard and prevent it from flying up.”

It took only six seconds for Bushman 83 to descend from the top of the climb and reach the sea.

“Pushing the stick forward sent the aircraft into an unrecoverable dive at that altitude,” Wilson said.

The commander in Bushman 84 was heard shouting “Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!” he was heard saying. but it was too late now.

Families of the airmen from Bushman 83 said little was recovered from their loved ones: a few pieces of flesh, some bones and a foot.

Nothing belonging to Nugent was found except his wallet, dog tags and broken Garmin watch.

“It’s his 24 years in these three items,” said his heartbroken mother, Marianna Nugent, as she held back tears.

There is no plaque or public memorial for the four missing men.

But North Bondi RSL stepped forward, put their photos on the bar and offered families the support they said Defense had failed to provide.

Diesel, Max, Phil and Naggsy, as they are known to their friends, now look out to sea where their young lives are extinguished.

Brought together by tragedy, these families’ last hope for accountability now rests with the Defense investigation and finding its head, former judge Margaret McMurdo.

The report is expected to be delivered in the new year.

They are optimistic that he will realize Defense is culpable in their loved one’s death.

Sarah Loft says it’s the least they expected.

“Because someone should be able to look us in the eye and tell us why our men are on this wall and not with us,” he said. “We didn’t get that, and it’s not fair. It’s not right. These guys deserved better.”