An army Black Hawk helicopter flies over the Melbourne CBD for emergency response training. Picture: David Caird Source: Herald Sun
Major Brenton Mellor in a Black Hawk helicopter over the Melbourne CBD. Picture: David Caird Source: Herald Sun
THE beat of Black Hawk helicopter blades will ring out across Melbourne as the army trains for terrorist attacks and emergency scenarios above our city streets.
Two of the camouflaged helicopters hovered 100m above Albert Park today in the first training session and will fly at undisclosed locations every day during the next two weeks.
Up to four helicopters could be used, carrying up to 14 Australian Defence force members each.
Squadron commander Major Brenton Mellor, 34, said he was excited to be in the cockpit over Melbourne and said experiencing the challenges of flying in city areas was important for crews.
"There will be some low flying,'' Major Mellor said.
"The public, I find usually normally are pretty excited but we will get some people that do get annoyed and that is fair enough, we try very hard in the way we plan our flying to minimise the impact and the noise.''
"I always get excited flying these things, the role and the type of flying we do is always exciting and in order to ensure we are properly trained we have to conduct training in and amongst high population settings.''
City lights in the night sky presented one of the biggest challenges, according to Major Mellor, who warned some exercises would be carried out at night.
He said some residences might hear the machines up until 11.30pm but said crews would perform five or six drills before moving to a different area.
Training is scheduled in suburbs across the city mostly during the afternoon to allow the public to get a peak at the machines.
Australia has a fleet of 30 Black Hawk helicopters, which can reach top speeds of 300km/h.
A Black Hawk flies over the Albert Park Grand Prix track. Picture: David Caird Source: Herald Sun
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