RWS 56 – The Chickenbone Story with Matthew Barker

Matt Barker flew the ARH Tiger for 11 years and wrote many of the manuals and procedures for its use in the Australian Army.

During 30 years of flying with the Australian Army Matt Barker has got to try his hand at a wide range of roles. He has picked up some tales of close calls and funny incidents along the way.

Episode 55 contains the first half of this interview which is also well worth listening too

In the 1980’s the RAAF was directed to transfer its helicopters to the Australian Army. This brought about an urgent need for the Army to increase their pilot recruiting numbers. At that time it would take 18 months of officer training and then another 12-18 months of flight training to get a new pilot to an operational unit. That was a lag time the Army couldn’t afford and the Special Service Officer (SSO) scheme was started which saw new recruits put through a 10 week abridged officer training course (commonly called a Knife, Fork and Spoon course) then straight into flight training.

Matt Barker was on this first SSO course through and shares some of the cultural interplay between these new officers and the rest of the Army. Going into the training he already had his commercial licence flown on R22, Bell 47 G2 and G4 models.

30 years later and Matt has flow Kiowa, Blackhawk, AS350 Squirrel, Tiger and MRH. He is an instructor, has flown Special Operations and was the Standards Officer in charge of developing the operating procedures for Tiger in Australian service from a blank piece of paper.

Flying between buildings while displaying Tiger at the Gold Coast Indy car Race

He has spent time flying over many parts of Australia, PNG, Timor and done stints in the UK, France and the US.

Thanks to Craig Bowman for the introduction to Matt and for feeding me some starting info to tease out the stories from Matt.

Parade to mark the changing of the guard from light horse cavalry to the ARH Tiger.

 

05 Oct 1987 – Joined Australian Army on Number 1 SSO Pilot course (46 Army Pilot course)
Jan – Jun 1988 – Basic Pilot course on CT4 at No 1 Flying Training School at RAAF Base Point Cook
Jul – Dec 1988 – Rotary wing course at SAA Oakey on B206 Kiowa
Dec 88 – Jan 91- Posted to 161 Recce Sqn at Holsworthy as a pilot on B206 Kiowa
Jan 91 – Oct 91 – Posted to Instructor training with US Army at Fort Rucker on OH58 Kiowa
Oct 91 – Oct 94 – QFI at ADF Helicopter School on AS350 Squirrel
Oct 94 – Jan 95 – S70 Blackhawk conversion course at SAA
Feb 95 – Dec 97 – Pilot, troop commander and SQN QFI at A SQN, 5 Aviation Regiment at RAAF Townsville
Jan 98 – Jun 2000 – QFI and troop commander at ADF Helicopter School on AS350 Squirrel
Jul 00 – Dec 2002 – SQN QFI at 161 Recce SQN at RAAF Darwin. Two stints in East Timor as Troop Commander and Detachment Commander
Jan 03 – Dec 09 – ARH Tiger Flying Standards Officer, posted to Eurocopter Marignane France 2004/05 and AAVNTC Oakey
Jan 10 – Dec 11 – ARH Tiger Instructor Development Officer, Instructor Training Wing, AAVNTC Oakey
Jan 12 – Dec 12 – Flying Standards Officer for ARH Tiger at 1 Aviation Regiment Darwin
Jan 13 – Jul 14 – ARH Tiger QFI with KBR at SAA Oakey
31 Jan 2014 – Transferred from full time to active reserve in the Australian Army
Jul 14 – Present – MRH90 Taipan QFI with Airbus at SAA Oakey.

 

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In this episode:
Heli-Expo 2017 recap
The Chickenbone or Chicken Man story
1996 Blackhawk Crash – counterterrorism role
Dealing with the aftermath of the crash
Instructing
East Timor flying for Category D pilots
Tiger ARH introduction to Australian Army
Huey gunship introduction to armed role
Marine Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course – 160 Marines and 1 Aussie, 80 aircraft
UK Apache Sqn for several months
France to Airbus Tiger training school
Writing procedures for Tiger standards manual
Accidental jettison of 7-shot rocket launcher from Tiger
Introduction to Service parade – risk management plan for helicopters and horses

Links from this week’s episode:
Support the show on Patreon
HAI Heli-Expo 2017
World Helicopter Day

Matt Barker and Eurocopter Instructor – Fabrice Bonne, back in Australia, November 2005, finishing ARH Conversion course

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[Video] Marine Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course that Matt attended as preparation for writing the manuals for Tiger. He also spent some time in the UK with their Apache training school.

 

Site of the 1996 crash where two blackhawks collided on approach during counterterrorism training. 18 people were killed. Matt and his crew were directly behind the two aircraft when they hit.
Kiowas were used extensively to monitor the Indonesian – East Timor border. This photo was taken in 2002 of Matt while on a pairs reconnaissance mission.
“Last bush Trip – Leaving Woomera October 2012 on a RAAF Hercules”

Do you have a question for Matt or about something mentioned in the episode that you want to ask? Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.

2 Replies to “RWS 56 – The Chickenbone Story with Matthew Barker”

  1. I think this has been the funniest episode to date. Thanks for the laughs and valuable information. Ben R22 CFI

  2. I was the authorising officer for this mission/flights. Matt is one of AAAvn’s best known characters & has a wonderful sense of humour. There was an Aviation Corps Dining in Night that we all agreed would be the last time the story would be told, but it seems that promise has been broken. We are all glad that those involved were mended.

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