Lift Helicopters in Modern Conflict – CAPT Mac Purbrick

‘The guys are firing in bursts, but you can put a significant rate of fire down to allow us to extricate ourselves from a situation ...’ In this week’s episode, we are joined by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilot from the 5th Aviation Regiment in Townsville QLD. Recorded at the Avalon Air Show, our guest this week – CAPT Mac Purbrick – runs us through the state of play in Army aviation and how to fight rotary wing aircraft under all types of threat.

C Squadron at the 5th Aviation Regiment is about to celebrate its 30th birthday, flying CH-47 Chinook helicopters since they were handed over by the Royal Australian Air Force in 1989. It is the Swiss army knife of helicopters, being able to conduct Air Mobile Operations, carry underslung howitzers, carry generators into flood zones and conduct Aeromedical Evacuation but it's baseline is being able to operate off a ship at night, with little clearance off the ground and fly into a landing zone the aircrew has never seen before. CAPT Purbrick talks about what happens when it goes right but more importantly what happens when it goes wrong.

When planning with lift aircraft, unsurprisingly a commander needs to focus on an effect rather than an entire scheme of manoeuvre and plan for contingencies. What happens to my callsign if the primary landing zone becomes untenable and we get dropped 5km off? What happens to my callsign if all timings are pushed by 20 minutes because the aircraft has to sit in holding outside of the air defence threat waiting for a recon section to clear the landing zone?

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