The Menace of the Taipans
They look mightily impressive. They're relatively young. And they've cost more than three-and-a-half billion dollars to buy and operate. According to the top brass at the Defence Department though, Australia's 46 MRH-90 Taipan helicopters are useless junk. Others say that they're dangerous, as the country tragically saw last July when one crashed near Hamilton Island killing four Australian airmen from the 6th Aviation Regiment. It seems no surprise then that the helicopters have been taken out of service, and as the story goes, are about to be dumped in a great big hole at a secret Defence location. But what if it turns out that these machines aren't as bad as we're being told? In a special report for 60 Minutes, Andrew Probyn, the National Affairs Editor for 9News, investigates the very real possibility that there's another reason for the terrible accident, and it's one that has nothing to do with the reliability, or otherwise, of the MRH-90.
Reporter: Andrew Probyn
Producer: Hannah BowersWonky Wonka
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Scottish entrepreneur Billy Coull thought he'd make money, and just as importantly make a whole lot of children happy, by staging a Willy Wonka spectacular in Glasgow. His idea was to take an empty warehouse and fill it with the wonder of Roald Dahl's imagination. Coull promised it'd be like nothing the kids had ever seen before. And he was right. But for all the wrong reasons. The show was a disaster of monumental proportions. Turns out, among Coull's many failings, his greatest was to rely on artificial intelligence to plan and then sell the extravaganza. As Adam Hegarty discovered though, AI simply wasn't smart enough to understand the magic of Willy Wonka. This attempt at fun not only turned to farce, it also became the subject of worldwide ridicule.
Reporter: Adam Hegarty
Producer: Sammi Taylor