Stolen from airport: Pilot dies as helicopter crashes into Cairns hotel
A stolen helicopter which crashed into a hotel roof forcing the evacuation of a major Cairns hotel has been retrieved as investigators reveal the next steps in the fatal aviation disaster investigation. PICTURES, VIDEOS
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A helicopter involved in a fatal “unauthorised” flight with no flight plan that crashed into the roof of a Cairns waterfront hotel, killing the pilot and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people, has been lifted off the hotel in a major operation.
On Monday afternoon a mobile crane had helped assist most of the clean up in the aftermath of the helicopter crash at DoubleTree by Hilton in Cairns.
A crane deployed by Cairns firm Crossy’s Crane Hire moved onto the Esplanade in front of the hotel about 4pm, and began stabilisation about 4.30pm.
By 5.30pm it had begun lifting a large industrial-sized skip bin measuring about 15m in length next to the pool retrieving some debris, before the bin was moved to the roof of the hotel, and the body of the chopper was placed into it about 5.50pm. It was then lowered onto an awaiting truck about 6.20pm.
Police have confirmed the pilot and single occupant of the aircraft was found dead at the scene.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said investigators would now look at establishing the exact sequence of events which led to the tragedy.
“We will gather what we can from the scene, from the operator, and once we do have the identity of the person involved, then we will start looking a little more closely on all the things that may have contributed to what unfolded last night,” he said.
“It’s only very early days, I have a team that have come from Brisbane and Canberra and we will spend the next day or so gathering what we can to understand what happened from the time of take off.
“We know that visibility was down at the time with possible rain. We want to understand what the helicopter was equipped with but also what the helicopter was doing at the time and any nature of the flight.”
“The ATSB is primarily interested in transport safety, so we will have to make a determination in the coming days, based on the evidence police gather and we can gather from the scene,” he said.
“As to whether this was a transport safety event or something different.”
Mr Mitchell said it would be very difficult for someone who didn’t know they were doing to fly a helicopter.
“It’s certainly very difficult to fly a helicopter if you are not a pilot but we don’t know — until the identity of the individual has been confirmed — the experience level,” he said.
Cairns Airport general manager Richard Barker said they were assisting authorities with their formal investigation into the crash.
“We have conducted a review … and initial findings show there has been no compromise of the airport security program or processes. Our thoughts are with all affected by this distressing incident.”
Emergency services were called to the Double Tree Hotel by Hilton on the Esplanade in Cairns CBD about 1.50am.
The company that owns the helicopter has confirmed the flight was “unauthorised”.
Nautilus Aviation – known for tours and private charters, and owned by North Queensland billionaire Chris Morris – confirmed it was an unauthorised flight that occurred.
No flight plan was created. The helicopter which crashed was a Robinson R44 – a four-seat light helicopter.
Nautilus Aviation CEO Aaron Finn told The Australian the chopper was taken from Cairns Airport in the early hours.
The identity of the man responsible was unknown.
All pilots employed by the company have been accounted for in the wake of the crash.
Mr Finn said the incident had come as a shock to Nautilus, and everyone had been given the day off in response.
Queensland Police Service Acting Chief Superintendent Shane Holmes said every line of inquiry was being conducted to establish how the helicopter was taken.
“The aircraft was moved from a general aviation hangar early this morning and it was an unauthorised flight.
“We are working with the local aviation operators to determine the circumstances leading up to before the aircraft went into the air.”
Acting Supt Holmes said the helicopter wasn’t in the air for a great deal of time before it crashed.
“There is no further threat to the community and we believe this was an isolated incident,” he said.
When asked if the pilot was an employee he said he was not sure at this stage.
“We have some preliminary information but we have no formal confirmation of identity.”
When asked if it was deliberate Acting Supt Holmes said it was unknown at this stage but they would investigate all lines of inquiries.
Two holiday makers remarkably escaped during the crash.
“I do believe they were asleep at the time and there were some windows that may have been impacted as a result of the incident occurring,” he said.
“I think it’s by pure luck that no one else was injured. We are so grateful there have been no other injuries. It could have been worse.”
He said the forensic examination would continue throughout the day but they were hoping to remove the aircraft at some point.
“We’ve got to make sure the structural integrity is sound and we will work with local engineers,” he said.
A man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s whose hotel room was nearby to the crash were treated for smoke inhalation and taken to Cairns Hospital.
Witnesses have described the scene as something like a movie and that the noise the crash made was like a bomb. Parts of the helicopter were found in the hotel’s pool and in parkland on the opposite side of the road.
‘IT FLEW PAST VERY FAST’
Veronica Knight was on the esplanade when the helicopter flew past her twice before crashing into the hotel.
“It flew past very fast, faster than you would normally see a helicopter fly,” she said.
“It flew from the area of the pier before it went up past the mangroves at the other end of the esplanade.
“Then it flew back and I saw the explosion.
“I don’t think anyone could have survived that explosion.
“I walked up further and saw the debris and all the people evacuating, I think I was lucky I wasn’t walking up further closer I could have been hit by something.”
A guest staying at the hotel claimed the helicopter had been flying without clearance lights on.
“I saw this very erratic helicopter flying really low, like dangerously low and it had no clearance lights on,” witness Amanda Kay said.
“I was quite concerned, but I just watched it until it went off in the distance, it was flying south.
“I then heard a big bang, there was a huge boom, I could feel it through the concrete, I didn’t know what it was, I went back into the building and the fire alarm started going.
“I opened the door which goes out onto a walkway, where is where I saw the flames from and then I went back inside and started preparing to evacuate.”
Video of the scene shows huge flames on top of the building and parts of the helicopter, including rotor blades were found in the pool in the hotel’s grounds and on the esplanade.
Witnesses have described a sound like a bomb going off.
“A helicopter just flew into the building. Unbelievable,’’ one person said in a video posted to social media. She reported seeing a red helicopter flying over the hotel.
“I heard it fly over. It was loud, low and sounded very sick. Not a crash though. More like a controlled emergency landing,’’ Mick Lennon posted.
Police declared a Public Safety Preservation Act, creating an exclusion zone that covered the Esplanade, Minnie Street, Abbott Street and Florence Street.
Members of the public are urged to avoid the area.
Speaking from Brisbane, Premier Steven Miles described the Cairns chopper crash as “terrifying” but said Cabinet had been told there was no further risk to the community.
“I’ve slept in that hotel there in Cairns before, I can’t imagine how scary it would be to be asleep and to hear that bang and to have to be evacuated,” he said.
“The police commissioner advises me that they have no reason to believe that there’s an ongoing threat to community safety.”
Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor for the Far Northern Region Caitlin Dennings told media upon arrival about 300 to 400 people were evacuated from the hotel.
“At the time it was too unsafe to enter the hotel to view the helicopter. At that time we waited for QFES approval prior to entering to assess the situation,” she said.
“The helicopter impacted the roof of the hotel however two propellers have dislodged from the helicopter landing on the Cairns esplanade and there was a second propeller located in the hotel pool on the bottom floor.
“At the time of the incident they were evacuated to Florence Street where buses have picked them up and taken them to a hotel in cairns city where they have all been evacuated to the foyer.”
The Forensic Crash Unit, working alongside the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, will prepare a report for the Coroner.
Investigations are ongoing.
‘SOUNDED LIKE A BOMB’
Reports of the sound was reportedly terrifying for people in the hotel.
“Unfortunately it is quite frightening to hear. I suppose that noise of helicopter crashing prior to 2am in the morning,” she said.
“There’s reports that it sounded like a bomb and seeing fire and smoke from that. A lot of the occupants of the hotel were very unsure about the situation at the time
“There is a lot of unease here at the evacuation centre which is a hotel down.”
Hotel guests have detailed the horrifying noise they woke up to.
Annie Zhao, a tourist from China, was staying on the top floor of the double tree Hilton.
“We just were woken up by a massive bomb, a huge bang,” she said.
“Then the alarms went off, we all went out and you could see the fire on the roof.”
“We were taken to the other Hilton.”
Enrico Lolli who was working at the nearby Crystalbrook Riley when the crash happened said it seemed the aircraft was in trouble well before the crash.
“It flew low over our building, too low you could hear it very loud,” he said.
“It kept going then circled back, it may have hit the roof of our building then into the Hilton.
Guests were quickly evacuated to nearby hotels.
“There was a massive fire on the roof, lots of smoke, it was very lucky no one was staying in that room it hit at the time.”
The building was evacuated as a precaution and there were no injuries sustained by people on the ground.
Queensland Ambulance Service shared pictures showing crews outside the Double Tree by Hilton on the The Esplanade.
One person posted on social media said he was standing on Abbott Street when the helicopter hit the building about 200 metres away.
“Thought I was in a movie scene!,’’ he posted.
Another said she spoke to a guest at another hotel who described a ‘loud bang’.
More to come
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Originally published as Stolen from airport: Pilot dies as helicopter crashes into Cairns hotel
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