1 month ago
The owner of a helicopter that crashed on to a hotel roof in Cairns says the pilot was a member of its ground crew who gained “unauthorised access” to a hangar early on Monday morning.
Queensland police on Tuesday night said initial investigations led them to believe the pilot who died in the crash was Blake Wilson, a 23-year-old from Smithfield, just north of Cairns.
“The formal identification process of the man located deceased following a helicopter crash on the Esplanade at Cairns City … is continuing and will take some time to complete,” police said in a statement.
Police said they are preparing a report for the coroner and will continue to investigate all lines of enquiry, including the circumstances leading up to the crash.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nautilus Aviation confirmed the pilot was an employee who had worked with the charter flight company for four months.
The statement said the man had a New Zealand pilot’s licence, but had never flown in Australia and was “not authorised to fly Nautilus Aviation helicopters”.
The company said the man had recently been promoted to a ground crew position at another of the company’s bases, and that there had been a “privately organised send-off” for him on Sunday night, attended by some of its employees.
“This was not a work event and was coordinated by friends,” the company said.
“Nautilus Aviation have today completed interviews with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and QPS and have cooperated with full transparency and disclosure of all events leading up to and following the incident on Monday morning.
“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the individual’s family and all who have been affected by this tragedy and continue to offer our support to our employees during this very challenging period.”
Investigators said the fatal helicopter crash into the roof of the far north Queensland hotel could have been a lot worse.
Hundreds of guests were evacuated and two people hospitalised after the “massive explosion” at DoubleTree by Hilton in Cairns early on Monday.
The helicopter was seen flying for at least five minutes in the Cairns CBD before it crashed into the hotel roof, smashing the windows of nearby rooms with one occupied by a sleeping elderly couple.
The two hotel guests, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s, were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
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The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s chief commissioner, Angus Mitchell, said the crash could have been deadlier, given that the rotor blades of the helicopter smacked into the hotel rooms.
“It’s miraculous … It certainly could have been a lot worse,” he told ABC Radio. “It’s not only the enormous forces of the impact damage but then the post-impact fire that followed as well.”
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The hotel was nearly full, with almost 400 guests evacuated, and many people were still walking around Cairns at 1am, which Mitchell said heightened the risk of a more dangerous crash.
Investigators are examining the sequence of events, with information so far indicating that the four-seater chopper was only airborne for five minutes.
Mitchell said they would focus on the final impact and whether something other than individual fault was to blame.
Police are also investigating how the helicopter was taken on an unauthorised flight. “Flying a helicopter, getting it up off the ground, isn’t something that anyone could do,” Mitchell said.
“You do need to have someone that has quite a detailed knowledge of the helicopter itself and how to fly it.”
Other lines of inquiry will include whether the helicopter was stolen, if the crash was deliberate and how fast the aircraft was flying.
A tourist from Sydney, Veronica Knight, saw the helicopter flying around Cairns, describing it as travelling at a very fast speed.
“It was like an army helicopter but faster,” she said. “Like a warplane, like it was going to come in and bomb you.”
Mitchell said the crash was unusual. “Police went to great lengths to reassure the public here that they believe it is a one-off incident and there’s nothing else behind this, because things like this are unsettling,” he said.
“We only have to look into the past history around planes into buildings and where that can potentially lead us.”
