A superb display of skill and nerve by a relatively-inexperienced Sea King flight crew who became engulfed in a sandstorm during operations in Iraq has resulted in one member winning a prestigious award on behalf of the whole team.

Lt Cdr Neale Hargreaves, Mission Commander of ‘Dolphin 43’, picked up the Hugh Gordon-Burge Memorial Award at the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators awards evening at the Guildhall, London for his outstanding captaincy of the team – pilot Lt David White and Flt Lt Emma Bridge RAF.

On March 12, the crew of a Mk 7 Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASAC) Sea King of 849 Naval Air Squadron A Flight left HMS Ark Royal on a night tactical surveillance sortie as part of Operation Telic in the Northern Arabian Gulf.

Lt Cdr Hargreaves, a Flight Observer, was the tactical mission commander, Lt David White was the pilot, and Flt Lt Emma Bridge the tactical aircraft control officer – Emma was on exchange from an RAF Hercules squadron and had not yet gained a great deal of experience in helicopter operations, particularly at night.

Because of the Ark’s position, arrangements had been made to use the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Kanimbla as a forward operating base during the sortie – the Australian ship was around 60 miles to the north-east of the main task group.

During the pre-sortie brief the crew of Dolphin 43 noted there were wide discrepancies in the safety colour codes for airfields close to each other in Kuwait – TAFs or Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts range from Green (clear) through Blue and Yellow down to Red, where the visibility and cloud conditions are so poor that special permission has to be sought to launch, and only then if there is a Green diversion within range.

Weather forecasters estimated that although airfields may be affected by wind-blown dust, conditions ashore would not be no worse than Yellow, with the situation improving out to sea.

The Sea King crew took the precaution of identifying and tracking all ships in their operating area capable of handling a Sea King, and kept an emergency reserve of fuel which would get them back to Ark Royal.

Dolphin 43 launched at 8.20pm and, after dropping another crew on the Kanimbla, they refuelled and relaunched, carrying enough fuel for their sortie plus an extra hour’s worth.

The sortie went smoothly, and with 15 minutes to scheduled recovery they could clearly see the Kanimbla from 5,000ft.

As the sortie ended, Dolphin 43 prepared to make a Helicopter Controlled Approach (HCA), with 1,400lb of fuel remaining, and Flt Lt Bridge moved forward to assist the pilot.

On approaching the ‘gate’, Kanimbla warned the aircraft that visibility had reduced rapidly and the ship was now shrouded in fog. Lt White switched on the landing lamp and realised they were flying in a sandstorm.

The helicopter crew continued the HCA but could not see the ship at half a nautical mile – the limiting visibility for Searchwater 2000 radar – and overshot the Australian ship.

“It was a strange old night,” said Lt Cdr Hargreaves. “Visibility went from five or six miles to just six metres in 12 minutes.”

Kanimbla advised the Sea King to ready themselves for a helicopter-controlled Emergency Low Visibility Approach (ELVA) in ten minutes.

The crew of Dolphin 43 elected to try another HCA while the ship prepared, particularly as the flight deck of the Kanimbla had reported seeing the helicopter’s lights as they had overshot the first time.

But once again the helicopter failed to make visual contact, and although they were heard by the Newport-class amphibious assault ship, this time they were not seen.

While controlling the Sea King for the HCAs, Lt Cdr Hargreaves had also been trying to establish if any of the alternative landing decks had clearer air – but when he contacted the British and American controlling ships the bad news was that all units were now reporting Red conditions.

Ark Royal had seen visibility reduce from some 9km to only 60-70 metres in 12 minutes, and all friendly airfields ashore within range were also at Red.

While positioning for the ELVA to HMAS Kanimbla, the British control ship contacted Dolphin 43 to pass on the information that American Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan had reported she had recovered her aircraft in clear air. Lt Cdr Hargreaves calculated that there was sufficient fuel to reach her.

The big concern to Lt Cdr Hargreaves was that the Bataan, south-west of the helicopter, would also be swallowed up by the sandstorm and also turn red – she was lying only 12 miles from Ark Royal.

So he continued to search for further contacts to the east in clearer air while the aircraft headed for the Bataan.

“There were several moments when it wasn’t looking good,” said Lt Cdr Hargreaves. “I have been flying for 18 years and it is the only time in my life when I didn’t really have any options.

“It looked like our only two alternatives would be top land in Iraq – which was not really an option, as Operation Telic had not really got under way at that point, or to put it into the water.”

Then the beleaguered crew had a lucky break – en route to the Bataan, the American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Milius was reported by the British controlling ship to also be in clear air, with a visibility of six nautical miles.

Realising that Bataan and Milius were roughly equidistant, Lt Cdr Hargreaves determined that the Milius was the better option and they headed for her, closing on her position with about 700lb of fuel remaining.

At three miles out they were still not visible to each other, and the Milius reported visibility had closed to a mile and a half and was deteriorating.

Milius requested Dolphin 43 remain clear for ten minutes to allow the ship to prepare for an ELVA, but Lt Cdr Hargreaves realised they did not have ten minutes and told the Americans the aircraft would conduct an HCA to half a mile out when it would start to ‘hover-taxi’ towards the ship using a radio altimeter to reduce height.

The Sea King Mk 7 does not have an automatic flight control system facility, so Lt White now had to fully brief Flt Lt Bridge on the requirements for the approach while he was still flying the aircraft on instruments in a pressure-cooker situation – fuel running low, visibility closing right down and pitch-black sky.

There was still no sighting of the ship at the end of the HCA, so Lt White reduced the speed to 25 knots and descended to 65ft before closing in on the ship.

With the sea barely visible below, Lt White hover-taxied on instruments while Flt Lt Bridge peered out into the gloom to spot the ship. As she did so, wind-borne sand was blown into the cabin, and Lt Cdr Hargreaves reported a partial radar failure, severely limiting alternative options.

At this point Milius reported they had spotted Dolphin 43 on a radar and suggested the aircraft head north to pick up visual. As they edged through the sandstorm Flt Lt Bridge spied a single light and directed the Sea King towards it.

On Milius, the flight deck crew did not see the helicopter until it was in the hover close alongside the ship, so thick was the sand.

But that was not the end of the problem. The USS Milius routinely handles a smaller Sikorsky helicopter, somewhere in size between a Lynx and a Sea King, so Lt White had to drop his aircraft on an unfamiliar and small flight deck under marginal conditions.

With Lt Cdr Hargreaves on tail-wheel watch and Lt Cdr Bridge conning from the left-hand seat, the pilot carried out a text-book landing, during which he had to yaw the nose to port over the landing spot to ensure there was sufficient clearance under the tail.

On landing, Dolphin 43 had 450lb of fuel left – right on the safety limit.

“If we had not seen the ship then, we would have put the aircraft down in the water,” said Lt Cdr Hargreaves.

“While conducting our HCA I was on about three radio channels finding out if anyone else was visible.

“It was a scary old night. The worst thing was the sand inside the cab – we were all covered and ended up with brown flying suits.

“Thank goodness for the sand filters on the Sea King – we checked it over then managed to get it back the next day.

“I think that was a one-off sortie – the weather was not forecast. A lot of aircraft did get down that night but many did not fly. We were just unfortunate we were flying when it came in.

“We were very lucky we found the Milius. They had just closed down from Flying Stations because they had just recovered a diverted aircraft, so their nets were all down.

“David is a very good pilot – landing on a flight deck he has never seen before in the middle of the night – he didn’t even know the angle, but luckily we were approaching the flight deck as we moved in.

“We would not have reached any other platform that night, and Ark Royal and the Kanimbla were preparing Search and Rescue flights just in case we had to ditch.”

The three crew members flew together throughout their deployment to the Gulf. Lt White was a wartime augmentee, and he has now rejoined 849 Naval Air Squadron headquarters at Culdrose in Cornwall, while Lt Cdr Hargreaves and Flt Lt Bridge remain with A Flight.

The citation from the Guild states: “Once they became engulfed by the unexpected sandstorm, the crew of Dolphin 43 displayed exemplary crew resource management skills to utilise all available resources, both within the crew and from outside agencies.

“Lt Cdr Hargreaves’ captaincy and decision-making was of the highest order.

“Lt White had to brief an inexperienced observer on a non-standard approach whilst flying on instruments at low level in zero visibility; his flying skills in extreme conditions were faultless and he remained exceptionally composed and collected throughout.

“Flt Lt Bridge, on exchange from a Hercules squadron, is not yet greatly experienced in helicopter operations, especially at night, but remained focussed and was of great assistance to the pilot.

“Faced with reducing options at every turn and with the very real possibility of having to ditch the aircraft due to lack of fuel, the crew remained calm and through hard work and sound airmanship, overcame all obstacles.

“Their actions were in keeping with the finest traditions of the Fleet Air Arm. For his display of outstanding captaincy and skill, and on behalf of the crew, Lt Cdr Neale Hargreaves is awarded the Hugh Gordon-Burge Memorial Award.”