How a routine training operation became the Black Hawk tragedy

Black Hawk helicopter crash: Thirty years ago, Australia had its worst peacetime military aviation disaster Fri 12 Jun 2026 at 7:02am On the night of June 12, 1996, six army Black Hawk helicopters were flying in formation over a defence training base near Townsville. It was a routine counterterrorism training operation, simulating a hostage rescue. When two of the helicopters flying at the front of the formation collided, it became a tragedy. Eighteen soldiers were killed and twelve were injured — some critically. It remains Australia's worst peacetime military aviation disaster. Loading...Mass casualty When a mayday call came in, senior paramedic Tony Kirkham was on shift in Townsville. "It's as if it was yesterday — so it's very, very clear, very vivid," Mr Kirkham said. "For other colleagues that I've spoken to, it's still quite fresh in their mind." He had never responded to a mass casualty event. A local sporting ground became a response centre, complete with a landing zone for a helicopter which was bringing the injured in. Mr Kirkham remembers the injured arriving four at a time with a constant stream of ambulances needed to take them to hospital. The work seemed endless. "We didn't really have any sound, confirmed information of how long this was going to go for," he said. "There were a lot of unknowns so that actually kind of made it feel like it was never going to end." He said while paramedics worked on treating and transporting patients, it was hard to focus on the enormity of the disaster. He said he saw a great deal of courage and resilience from military personnel. "I remember one gentleman [helping] and he actually had a broken arm and he … continued for quite some time," he said. Training turned disaster On the day of the disaster, the air crew and soldiers conducted a daytime rehearsal of the mission as part of Exercise Day Rotor 96. After dusk the mission was launched, with pilots and crew using night vision goggles. It was a counterterrorism training operation, simulating a hostage rescue, which would culminate with SAS soldiers repelling down ropes and simulating the rescue of hostages. Six helicopters were flying in formation, when one of the helicopters turned right and clipped the tail rotor of another. It caused the helicopter to go into a spin, as both aircraft crashed to the ground, bursting into flames. Between the two helicopters, six people survived and eighteen were killed. The first helicopter exploded on impact with the ground, leaving only two survivors. A government inquiry found that inadequate planning and mission information could not pin down a single cause of the crash but rather a 'chain of events' — including planning failures, equipment limitation, and training deficiencies as contributing factors. The remarkably, the pilot of the second aircraft, Captain David Burke, survived as he managed to keep the Black Hawk in an upright position. Just days after the crash, he told media about the horror and bravery he witnessed. "There were people going into the flames of aircraft to pull them out. There were rounds going off. There was ammunition in the air, there were explosives in the back of aircraft that were going off, there were aircraft exploding and these men — both SAS and aircrew — were going into the flames and cutting people out," he told reporters. "This has been a real tragedy and we are all deeply hurt by it, but what we have been doing we strongly believe in and we do it for the benefit of the people of Australia." A community in shock At the time of the crash, Les Tyrell was the mayor of the City of Thuringowa — now part of Townsville. He said the trauma had rippled through the community. "The original information was of about three or four deaths and then that kept mounting up and mounting up," Mr Tyrell said. His strongest memory of the time was a commemoration ceremony held at Lavarack Barracks. "They had rifles upended into the ground in a circle out in an open paddock and 18 of us were given a beret to take forward and put on the butt of the gun," he said. "It's something that we should remember ... and something that will go down in history as one of the saddest days of the city's life." An Australian Defence Force spokesperson said the impact continued to be felt. "Thirty years on, Defence honours the service and sacrifice of our fallen soldiers, and pays tribute to their enduring contribution to the Australian army and the nation," the spokesperson said. "We also recognise the exceptional courage and selflessness shown by survivors and rescuers in the aftermath." Remembering a devoted dad Benjamin Berrigan was just about to turn three years old when his father Captain John Berrigan was killed in the crash. While his recollections of the time are foggy, the event and the loss of his dad shaped his life. His memories are based on stories, photos and home movies. "He loved to tell a joke. He played guitar so he was always kind of the life of the party," Mr Berrigan said. John Berrigan started his working career as a brick layer and an army reservist. He eventually went to the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra and developed a passion for helicopters. "He worked his way up to being a captain and a pilot and that takes a lot of training, so as a soldier he was very strict and focused in what he did," he says Now a father himself, Mr Berrigan tells his own kids about their grandfather. He sports a large tattoo on his back, a portrait of his dad. "My oldest daughter points at it and asks questions about it which is good. I can kind of keep the memory alive and pass that down to my kids now.," he said. "He is with me forever no matter what." Mr Berrigan said when he was young he felt quite "emotional" when he'd watch the home movies of his family at the time, but as he got older his feelings changed. "It's more joyful more than anything — seeing him how he was." "They were brave soldiers doing what they did."