‘Balloon next to Afghan pitch did not restrict flying’ – inquest
ASURVEILLANCE balloon placed next to an Afghan football pitch where a Royal Air Force helicopter crashed trying to land was a hazard but did not restrict flying, a senior commander has told an inquest.
Flight Lieutenants Alan Scott and Geraint “Roly” Roberts died after a Puma Mk 2 helicopter collided with the balloon’s tether and crashed near Nato’s Resolute Support (RS) mission headquarters in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on October 11, 2015.
They were among five people killed, including 44-year-old Frenchborn security worker Gordon Emin and two US personnel, and five others were injured.
Family members of the two airmen and Mr Emin were at Oxford Coroner’s Court to hear evidence about the safety concerns raised with the balloon, known as a persistent threat detection system (PTDS).
Air Commodore David Cooper, who was deputy commander of Nato Air Command in Afghanistan at the time, said the decision was made by the base command that the PTDS was necessary for intelligence reasons.
Its location was determined after risk assessments by groups including the mission’s rotary wing, and the PTDS was placed near the football pitch rather than the Canadian embassy, he said.
“There were very limited options where realistically it could go,” Mr Cooper said. “They determined if they placed it at the Canadian embassy it would have been too restrictive.
“The preferred site was the one that was chosen.”
Mr Cooper, referring to the safe distance between an object and an aircraft, added: “It was a hazard that would introduce a risk – the risk being the hazard of safe separation. In doing their own risk assessments they came back to us and said, ‘we are relatively comfortable that risk is understood and mitigated’.
“At that point I believed they had done their own due diligence. They were of the view that the PTDS would not stop operations, it was an additional hazard.”
Mr Cooper, who witnessed the crash from a café at the base, said there was a no-fly zone surrounding the immediate area of the balloon launch site, around 370 metres.
He said: “If you are going to land on the soccer field and you have prior permission and you have called in, there would be an expectation that you may have to come close to or infringe that protected airspace but you would only have done so once you have good sight of the tether.”
In bad weather or when there was low visibility, Mr Cooper said, com- manders would have made a decision whether to launch the balloon or allow helicopters to fly. He said: “It’s that balancing of risks.”
He said the weather on the day of the crash was “beautiful”.
The inquest also heard the football pitch that was being used as a busy landing zone for helicopters was not under Nato control and occasionally had people playing sport on it.
Londoner Flt Lt Scott, 32, died as a result of “multiple injuries”. Flt Lt Roberts, 44, from north Wales, died from a “blunt-force head injury”.
The cause of death for Mr Emin, who lived in Kabul, was given as a spinal fracture.
The inquest continues.