Sea World Helicopters crash: helipad in theme park reopened in March after three-year closure

A helipad involved in the horror Sea World Helicopters disaster had reopened in 2022 after being out of use for more than three years. Read the latest.

The stand-alone helipad inside the Sea World theme park – from which Sea World Helicopters chief pilot Ash Jenkinson’s took off before colliding with another chopper – reopened in March after being out of use for more than three years.

The pair of Eurocopter EC 130 B4s collided in the air up to 300 metres above the Gold Coast Broadwater west of Sea World theme park about 2pm on January 2.

Mr Jenkinson and three of his passengers were killed in the crash, while a woman and two children were critically injured.

Six people from the other helicopter suffered non life-threatening injuries after pilot Michael James skilfully landed his badly-damaged craft on a sandbank, leaving experts “astonished”.

Video footage of the crash shows one of the aircraft, bearing the Sea World logo, taking off from the smaller helipad on the water. It is accessible only via a gangway from inside the theme park. Within 20 seconds, the collision occurs.

Neil de Silva (far left) waves to his wife Winnie de Silva and step son Leon as they take off in the Sea World helicopter which would later crash Picture: Supplied

The company that operated Sea World Helicopters was wholly owned by Village Roadshow until the theme park contracted out its scenic flight operations on a 10-year agreement in 2019.

The in-park helipad, located near the Sea Jellies exhibit and featuring its own flight ticket booth, was decommissioned in 2019 and remained closed until March 2022, after a refurbishment project that took almost a year.

Helipad inside the theme park at Sea World.

A post from the Sea World Helicopters Facebook page.

Sea World Helicopters offered flights as short as five minutes, priced from $69, from within the in-park helipad and from its four carpark helipads.

Under the deal, Sea World Helicopters paid for a new helicopter hangar and an expansion of the helipads near the Sea World theme park carpark in late 2019.

The Sea World Helicopters heliport near the Sea World theme park carpark was built in 2019.

Theme park operator Village Roadshow has said it was working with emergency services and the authorities to “provide every possible assistance”.

But the company did not respond to Bulletin questions about how many of the passengers purchased their tickets from the Sea World Helicopters shop that’s inside the theme park or whether the company had engaged legal counsel regarding the tragedy.

Satellite imagery of the scene of the Sea World Helicopters crash.

“We are providing support to our team members who have been emotionally affected. As it is now a police investigation, we cannot provide any further information at this stage,” a Village Roadshow statement said.

Sea World Helicopters is solely directed by Victoria-based John Orr-Campbell, 66, while Michele Orr-Campbell, 57, is the ultimate sole shareholder via a number of holding companies.