Crash of Sea King "Shark 02"Print Page 
The plaque commemorates the crash of the Royal Australian Navy Sea King helicopter "Shark 02" which crashed in Indonesia in April 2005. This helicopter was involved in the 1990 Nyngan evacuation.
Location
| Address: | Pangee Street, Vanges Park, Nyngan, 2825 |
|---|---|
| State: | NSW |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -31.563052 Long: 147.196639 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Plaque |
|---|---|
| Monument Theme: | Disaster |
| Sub-Theme: | Aviation |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 02-April-2005 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 02-April-2005 |
Dedication
In memory of the crash of Sea King "Shark 02"
In April 1990 helicopters evacuated almost the entire population of Nyngan following the worst flooding the area had known since being settled.
One of the helicopters from 817 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy which participated in the 1990 Nyngan evacuation, N16-100 (call sign Shark 02), later crashed in Indonesia on 2 April 2005 with eleven Navy and Air Force members on board - nine of whom were killed. The accident occured while Shark 02 was making its approach to land on a sports field on the island of Nias where it had been providing humanitarian support to the people of the earthquake-devastated region.
The subsequent Board of Inquiry concluded that the primary cause of the accident was a failure of the flight control system. A key component of the flight control system was not properly secured during maintenance, which resulted in the pilots losing ability to control the aircraft and was the result of a series of errors and non-compliances with Maintenance Regulations.
The names of the nine members that died in the accident are :
[ Names ]
Leading Seaman Shane Warburton and Corporal Scott Nichols survived the accident.
As a result of the Board of Inquiry findings into the accident, important safety enhancements were made to aviation practices across the Australia Defence Force.
We will remember them
