The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The Crash: The Same Squadron, Almost the Same Hour - 25 Years Ago | Israel today

2022-01-15T13:47:22.839Z


When Shlomit Bachar heard about the helicopter accident last week, the memories of that damn evening in September 1996 suddenly returned to her. With him were killed the second pilot, Captain Shachak Sela, and the Navy officer, Captain Eran Garbia • Sela's body was the only one found immediately; Bachar's body was only identified four months later, and Capt. "The crash made me feel like I had to go to the squadron," says Shlomit. "My heart wanted to get there, to hug them."


"Unbelievable, crazy deja vu. Everyone who was involved that night, in post-trauma. My heart is drinking. Hugging the families. What a journey awaits them."

Shlomit Bachar posted this short post on her Facebook page, the morning after the bat helicopter crashed off the coast of Haifa, early last week.

Shlomit is the widow of the late Lt. Col. Ben Zion (Benzi) Bachar, who was killed in a dolphin helicopter crash off the coast of Nahariya, on September 16, 1996. Almost the same accident: the same 193rd Squadron, almost the same evening.

Even then, on the helicopter, in addition to Bachar, were co-pilot Captain Shahak Sela and Navy Officer Captain Eran Garbia.

It's just that unlike the last disaster, in an accident more than 25 years ago, all the crew perished.

Garbia's body has not been found to date.

"Last week, an hour before the news of the disaster became known, one of the commanders of the 193rd Squadron called me and said, 'I want to prepare you, it happened to us,'" says Shlomit.

"The right word to describe what I went through is paralysis. Then began a flood of phone calls and messages from anyone who was then involved in Benzi's accident.

"I have since managed to visit Dana, the wife of Lt. Col. Erez Shachini who was killed in the crash, and I also went to the squadron because my heart wanted to get there.

It was clear that I had to give them a hug. "

The late Lt. Col. Ben Zion Bachar.

"Flying on the edge",

The late Captain Shachak Sela. "Loved the unit",

The late Captain Eran Garbia. "Dominant and Leader",

• • •

In September 1996, Squadron 193 - "Defenders of the West" - was a small squadron that included two helicopters in total, whose main function was cooperation with the navy: search and rescue, submarine warfare and targeting ships.

In 1993, the late Lt. Col. Bachar was appointed to the squadron's headquarters, and later it was stationed at the Ramat David base.

Bachar was a senior and well-known pilot in the corps.

During the First Lebanon War, following a daring rescue operation in the Beaufort sector, he received a SLA from the Air Force Commander. The dolphin.

"Benzi had to command an owl squadron (Black Hawk, EL), he has already been appointed to the position," Shlomit adds. : 'We get a new helicopter.

Switching roles at such a time is doomed to disaster.

Will remain in 193 '.

“At first he was angry because the Owls Squadron was bigger, but I saw his eyes every time he returned from a U.S. tour on the bat helicopter.

They sparkled.

For years I heard from him about the various systems of the helicopter, and even where the silver stripe would pass while painting.

For three years he prepared the squadron for the helicopter.

I remember that when the parts arrived, wrapped in plastic, it was insane excitement and it hurt me so much that he did not get to fly in them. "

What type was he?

"Border shy and silent. We were not just together. He was silent, I talk. He's tired, I sleep. He earns, I spend. On average we were around. He was creative, knew how to analyze situations and always followed the book. When I was about to give birth to Shoham, I remember we drove to the hospital and it is about 80 mph.

I said 'Are you crazy?

Put on gas, and he proceeded according to the law.

Straight as a ruler.

He did not have a circle of corners. "

They met through a mutual friend when Shlomit was 18, while doing a year of service in Holon, they married in 1987 and had two children: Shoham, who was 6 when his father was killed, and Weber, who was 4.

"In retrospect, in the days before the accident, very symbolic things happened. For example, Benzi prepared an invitation for Shoham's birthday, which we postponed from August to September because he was abroad.

Then there was an invitation, but the birthday celebration no longer took place.

Or for example before Rosh Hashanah, we passed by the parents, and it would have seemed like a farewell round.

And that day, before he left for the flight and was already standing at the door, I asked him 'when will you be back?'

And he replied, "Well, I have no idea."

On that fateful day, immediately after Rosh Hashanah, Lt. Col. Bachar was to arrive with the squadron commanders in Ramat David for a discussion in the Tel Aviv campus.

"It was not a routine exercise because of its complexity," says Brigadier General (Res.) Rani Falk, who was the commander of the base in Ramat David at the time. "Benzi wanted to personally oversee the flight. He decided to fly it. "

Falk took over as base commander less than a month before the accident.

Before that, he did not know Lt. Col. Bachar. "I called this squadron 'my little darling corner,'" he recalls.

"But even in this small corner there was a dark corner, with difficult and complex flights to the heart of the sea, in the dark, in uncomfortable weather. It is difficult to explain how much these flights require professionalism.

I remember sweating quite a bit. "

At 19:25, a Dolphin 905 helicopter took off from Ramat David for an exercise combined with Navy missiles, which was conducted off the coast of Haifa. The plan, the helicopter was supposed to return to base at 21:00, refuel and change crew.But at 20:02 the last contact with the aircraft took place, and at 20:07 the radar connection between the helicopter and the air control was lost.

"I had just returned from the discussions at the center, when I was informed by the squadron to arrive urgently," says Falk.

"In those moments we knew there was a malfunction, because there was no report, but for a few more hours we still had hope. We searched the beach, maybe they still managed to get to it. We put up light bombs, helicopters, stilts floated in the area.

We thought maybe the helicopter made a forced landing and did not report, and maybe it was floating on the water.

After two hours, we realized it did not look good. "

Even before official approval was received, Falk decided to update Shlomit.

"It's not like today, that there are WhatsApp and media groups going crazy at events like this," she says.

"They knew the helicopter was gone, and Rani said, 'Now I'm going to Shlomit.'

"In the movies there is always a scene where you see a delegation coming to the meat. Rani came to me with sports clothes, came in and said 'Can I talk to you?'

I had no idea, nor did I prepare. He said, 'We lost touch with Benzi's helicopter,' and I thanked him then and I thank him to this day. I think he did the right thing.

"Slowly the house filled with people, news came from the area, and in the early morning Rani told me: 'Find the rubber boat of the escapes.' I asked 'were they on it?', He said no and then I said to myself in my heart, 'This is it.' "When he was a survivor in the last accident. For me, this is an event that cannot be avoided."

As long as Benzi's body was not found, did you not hope for a difference of chance?

"I was married to a military man for 16 years, and I had no illusions. When I was told they were not on the rubber boat, I literally imagined Benzi sitting next to me on a couch, and we look at each other and say 'over'. '

The search for the dolphin helicopter, 1996. "Neither the Air Force nor the Navy had the means available today," Photo: Archive: Hadar Cohen IDF Spokesman

• • •

Captain Shahak Sela, the co-pilot on that tragic flight, was not supposed to fly helicopters at all.

"He was disqualified from flying because of knee problems," says his mother, Nurit.

"He suffered torn meniscus tears after years of squash and martial arts training, and during the summer between 11th and 12th grade he practiced returning to fitness.

"Luckily, at that time I was studying psychology and specializing in hospitals, and I studied with someone who turned out to be the chief doctor of the Air Force. Shakhak heard this and told me 'talk to him.' "He will not do anything, but if he plays one hundred percent, he will help. And he will play happiness."

Only not everything went according to plan.

Play wanted to fly fighter jets, but in the course the pilot was sorted into helicopters and then placed as a co-pilot.

At the time of the accident, he was serving in a full-time position at the Air Force headquarters in Tel Aviv, and came to the Ramat David squadron only for training that kept him fit, including the same fateful exercise.

"In the end, Shachak found himself and really liked the small, high-quality unit," says Yuval, his father.

"In those years, Beit Gal and Bnei Snir also served in the army, both in combat engineering. I was more worried about them, because I knew he was mainly in the Kirya."

On the day of the accident, Nurit was at her home in Givatayim, waiting to play and return from the night flight.

She and Yuval were already divorced.

He was at his home in Hod Hasharon, with his second wife and their two-week-old son.

"Shachak had to return, because the next day he had plans in the Kirya and he announced that he could not find the key to the apartment," says Nurit.

"I told him 'you have nothing to worry about, I'll wait for you.'

But no one came in. I kept saying 'the door is open.'

"In the same delegation there was also another pilot from the unit, who was supposed to be on the flight instead of playing and finally did not get on the helicopter. I immediately told him to remember all his life that he should not have been on this flight. I never think 'if' and not 'what was It happens if. "Will it change reality? No. I accept and live with it."

Do you believe in fate?

"I believe each of us has an 'expiration', we just do not know when, and it is impossible to let a 24 year old boy live with the feeling that he is alive because someone else is dead. Another thing, play and his girlfriend broke up a month before he was killed, and I told her it was her life's luck. '.

"I also remember that the doctor who came to tell me pressure to go and inform my parents, both Holocaust survivors. I said nothing would happen if we waited until morning, it was the last night they slept well. My mother was in the onset of Alzheimer's disease and it greatly affected the course of her illness. "My father, Aaron, was broken. As he opened the door for us, he said, 'I can not believe it happened to me.'"

Nurit Sela, the mother of the late Shachak.

Play did not know that the same fateful flight would take off with his relative, Captain Eran Garbia, a Navy man.

Eran was born and lived in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, east of Hadera.

He enlisted in the Navy, completed a seamanship course, was trained as a landing officer and bridge officer on the STIL, and was the liaison between seamen and air.

"Eran always stood out," says Tali Maori, a classmate.

"He was physically strong, dominant, a leader. A socially leading type, very sharp, with extensive knowledge. In everything he touched, he succeeded."

Shachak and Eran did not know each other at all in their lives, and only after their deaths the family connection became clear: Shachak was the great-granddaughter of Chaya Makover, and Eran was the great-granddaughter of her sister, Deborah Garbia.

A chilling coincidence.

"Until now, I only knew Gabi, Eran's father, from distant family events in which we participated. There was no close connection between us," says Nurit, the granddaughter of Chaya Makover.

"Only when the names of the dead were published did I understand."

• • •

Shahak's body was the only one found in the first searches. Even then, the search conditions were not easy: the helicopter crashed about 20 kilometers west of Nahariya, and sank to a depth of 650 meters. In the latest bat accident, for comparison, the helicopter fragments were found at a depth of 12 meters.

"Neither the Air Force nor the Navy had the means available today," says flight accident investigator Dr. Amir Perry. "Unlike the bat accident, there was no one left who survived the accident and could describe what happened. You rely on what the sea emits. As the helicopter plunged deep, and hours passed from the moment of the crash to the moment oil and fuel stains were seen on the water, it was clear that the wind and sea currents were doing work. "The place where the helicopter was located, in the middle of the sea, and the place where the findings were seen in the first light of September 17, were very far from each other."

Dr. Amir Perry. "The sea worked", Photo: Ariel University

While the late Sela was playing and was buried in the Kiryat Shaul cemetery, Lt. Col. Bachar and Captain Garbia were declared missing.

Due to the complexity of the operation, the services of the Dutch company "Smith-Tuck" were hired, which also participated in the search for the submarine "Decker".

The Dutch assigned the ship "Peeling Enterprise", which had advanced crane equipment and a sophisticated underwater robot.

During the search, a tiny submarine was also activated, and in early October 1996, the helicopter was lifted from the depths.

"It's an inconceivable depth," says Shlomit.

"You know what the height of the Twin Towers was? 417 meters. This was 650 meters. They found Benzi's wallet, a watch and a keychain, but at some point we realized there was going to be one companion. We did not know whose, Benzi's or Eran There was not enough information to know the remains of who found them.

"For me it was a trauma upon a trauma. I was not allowed to escape, because for several months I received reports of what was happening and where to look and how.

"Today, 25 years later, I can already talk, but for years I could not. In the last accident, when I saw the policemen walking with the parts of the helicopter, I could not look. After all, even in death we want to imagine our beloved as whole and beautiful as he was. And impossible, Imagination kills. "

Was it important to you that they find Benzi?

"Benzi's mother, Hannah, kept saying 'I need a grave to cry on', because Benzi's father, Moshe, was also killed in a car accident a decade earlier. Personally, this is a topic I am careful to talk about. I know he is sensitive. But finding remains "No matter what the price, I have a problem with it."

Four months after the remains were found at the bottom of the sea, a DNA test performed by a laboratory in Britain confirmed that they belonged to Lt. Col. Bachar, and he was brought for burial on January 20, 1997 in the Holon cemetery.

On the way back from the funeral to the base in Ramat David, Rani Falk flew Shlomit and her son Shoham in a small Cessna plane over the crash site, to say goodbye.

"It was strong," she says.

"Until now I have a dual relationship with the sea. I'm not afraid of flying, but tell me a submarine or a boat, and it will be scary.

Despite the efforts, Captain Garbia's body has not been found to this day, and on January 29, 1997, he was declared an IDF space whose burial place is unknown.

• • •

The Air Force has been trying for months to figure out what caused the accident, and the experts' conclusion finally pointed to the human factor.

"In our content worlds we work with the elimination method," explains Dr. Perry, for whom the dolphin helicopter crash was the entry into the world of flight accident investigations.

"No technical failure was detected in the helicopter, the crew did not report a malfunction, so they work according to the five-M model that can be relevant: the person, the machine, the flight environment, the mission and the management."

There was talk in this accident about Vertigo.

"The international term in the world for vertigo is called 'situational disorientation'. Especially when flying at night, over the sea, when the stars are reflected in the water and you do not know if you are trending in front of water or in front of the sky. ‘Situational disorientation’ will give a lot of accidents that were over seas, at night.

"It turns out that a lot of people, no matter if they are pilots, believe more in their head than in the device, because we often make decisions based on gut feelings. The problem is that in the end you come to a decision under conditions of uncertainty, and then there is an internal war. "And when it does not succeed, we reach a catastrophe."

"No one is free from mistakes," says Brigadier General (Res.) Zviki Tessler, who replaced Bachar as commander of the 193rd Squadron.

No one is immune.

There was no technical malfunction in Benzi's accident, and it is known that maneuvers were practiced that definitely challenge the ability to fly.

Benz flew in places that are not in the core of the shell but on the edge, to exhaust the practice in complex conditions.

"We do not know for sure what happened, but flying on a dark night, over the sea, is a situation that can invite incidents of disorientation."

Brigadier General (Res.) Tessler, recently appointed projector for the upcoming celebration of Lag B'Omer on Mount Meron, was on his way to school when he was called to command the squadron that had lost its headquarters.

He was the one who finally got to inaugurate the Bat Helicopters, Bachar's flagship project.

"Every incident like this is a shock to the squadron, certainly when the commander is killed and the unit is small," he says.

"It was actually the first accident the squadron has experienced since it was founded. I found a mourning unit, but not on the planks. Excellent people, understand the size of the hour, because it was impossible to let go of the pedal. I do not remember we changed procedures en masse, "Dark over the sea. The security margins have become higher."

Brigadier General (Res.) Tessler. "Shock," Photo: Police Spokesman's Brigade

One of the bat helicopters that arrived at the squadron is the one that crashed on January 3 off the coast of Haifa, and the corps has been preparing since 2015 for its successor, Sikorsky "Sihok", which is due in about two years.

"Air Force squadrons have, unfortunately, experience in dealing with accidents, and they will not stop because of them," Tessler says.

"Doing a pause, thinking deeper, researching and drawing lessons, but we find in these events even a strengthening potential."

• • •

And life does go on.

For the past twenty years, Shlomit has been in a relationship with Yossi, and Bar, her daughter, is about to get married in about a month.

"Many years ago I was at a wedding and I saw a 34-year-old mother there with a 4-year-old girl, and I suddenly had a flashback, my whole body was shaking," Shlomit recalls.

"I saw myself at the same age, with a 4-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy. In real time you do not understand that, you are in survival, and luckily so.

"But if anything can be taken from the disaster, it is to make room for joy. To appreciate and cherish them. I always tell my children 'if there is reason to rejoice, happy,' and they always laugh at me for making infinity 'for life' at Friday meals. "To exhaust and appreciate what is there. Bar's wedding will be super happy and super family."

Nurit and Yuval already have grandchildren from Shachak's brother and sister, who had to celebrate his 50th birthday this year. Snir, 47, is a successful chef and father of three;

Gal, 43, is a neuropsychologist and mother of two.

"We were a united family, united children, all friends of all, and then the loss ran our lives," Nurit is convinced.

"I always say it's like acid that you pour on something and hear 'yawn'. From the inside everything is burned, and from there you continue to rebuild everything."

"I am no longer afraid of anything in life," Yuval adds.

"Most of the people around me don't even know I'm a bereaved father and that's fine. Each of us is built differently."

Tali Maori, a classmate of Eran Garbia, still lives in Gan Shmuel.

Her parents' house is right next to the house of Ilana Garbia, Eran's mother.

"During the search for Eran, I was already on a trip after the army," she says.

"My father called me in Los Angeles, and told me, 'They can't find Eran.'

"On Memorial Days and the anniversary of Eran's death, all the friends meet, but the memory accompanies me every day, especially when I pass by his parents' house and imagine that he is there, visiting, playing outside with his children. In fact, the lack floods his memory."

shishabat@israelhayom.co.il

Were we wrong?

Fixed!

If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-01-15

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-22T18:43:50.474Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z
News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.