Inquest set down for Sea World Helicopters disaster on Gold Coast

An inquest into the Sea World Helicopters disaster on the Gold Coast has been set down, with the Coroner to probe issues including whether safety management systems were “adequate and appropriate”.

An inquest into the Sea World Helicopters disaster on the Gold Coast has been set down, with the coroner to probe whether safety management systems were adequate and appropriate.

It follows the release last week of a damning Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the January 2023 mid-air collision between two joy flight choppers above the Southport Broadwater which killed Sea World Helicopters chief pilot Ash Jenkinson, British newlyweds Ron and Diane Highes and Sydney tourist Vanessa Tadros and left three others seriously injured.

The devastating scene of a the Sea World helicopter crash. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Hampson

The ATSB found that a catalogue of “compounding failures”, including a faulty radio and a flawed “see and avoid” collision prevention system, contributed to the crash.

It also found that Mr Jenkinson was likely to have used cocaine 36 hours before the fateful flight.

An inquest, starting with a pre-hearing in Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 26 before South Eastern Coroner Carol Lee, will investigate how the crash occurred and the most likely cause.

It will probe the basis upon which passenger air operations involving scenic flights were conducted by Sea World Helicopters, and whether safety management systems involving both ground and aircrew were “adequate and appropriate”.

The inquest will also examine:

– Whether the design and control of helicopter landing sites used by Sea World Helicopters, and the reopening of a theme park helipad in March 2022, were undertaken with adequate understanding of the air operations to be conducted and with an appropriate risk assessment – especially as to the risk of collision with traffic operating from one of the other helipads.

– The adequacy of training undertaken by the SWH pilots involved in the accident before flying the EC 130 4B helicopters on scenic flights.

– The effectiveness of in-flight broadcasts made by SWH pilots and the use of radio and other technologies to provide ‘alerted see-and-avoid’ in order to enhance situational awareness and maintain separation in an uncontrolled air traffic environment.

– The extent to which SWH had appropriate and adequate ground to air communications systems in place to assist SWH pilots to see and avoid the presence of potentially conflicting air traffic.

– The serviceability of the radio system on the helicopter in which all four victims died, and whether any defects in that system could have been discovered or detected before the date of the accident.

– Whether the passengers on both helicopters were provided with adequate passenger safety briefing and otherwise correctly fitted onboard with the aircraft seatbelts and, if not, whether that impacted upon survivability and/or the extent of injuries sustained by surviving passengers.

– The extent to which SWH’s scenic flight operations were regulated and the role of aviation authorities (CASA and Air Services Australia) in relation to those air operations at the date of the accident.

– The extent to which CASA had oversight over the helicopter company’s safety management systems, and the steps it can take regarding appropriate management of drug and alcohol protocols to detect inappropriate drug use by pilots at uncontrolled heliports.

– Whether any changes to the regulation of scenic flight operations at Sea World or to the way in which such air operations are conducted would reduce the likelihood of deaths occurring in similar circumstances in the future or otherwise contribute to public safety.