Cairns helicopter crash: Nautilus Aviation CEO defends control tower employees following fatal incident
The boss of Nautilus Aviation has defended the actions of the Cairns airport’s control tower after a stolen helicopter departed the hangar undetected to later fatally crash into a hotel.
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The boss of Nautilus Aviation has defended the actions of the Cairns airport’s control tower after a stolen helicopter departed the hangar undetected to later fatally crash into a hotel.
On the early hours of Monday, August 12, Nautilus Aviation ground crew employee Blake Wilson who had a New Zealand pilot’s license, entered the company’s hangar, before trolleying out a Robinson R44 and departing the airport without running lights on or radio any communications.
After flying for about four minutes, Mr Wilson crashed into the Doubletree by Hilton hotel.
Nautilus Aviation chief executive Aaron Finn said he was amazed Mr Wilson had managed to spend close to an hour inside the hangar before taking off, without attracting the attention of security or the Australian Federal Police, who he did not lay any blame on.
Recently 7News reported the airport’s traffic control tower was manned at the time of Mr Wilson’s departure, however the controller had taken a break following the last scheduled flight of the night about 12.38am.
“The controller reported using a recliner chair to self-break, which limited view of the airfield,” an Air Traffic Control document according to the 7News investigation.
“At 1.42am the controller reportedly “heard a click on the radio … got up … saw nothing then sat back down.”
The helicopter then appeared on the screen five minutes later, and the controller heard a “second longer click” at 1.51am.
“The controller got up and checked again, however did not observe anything on INTAS display,” the document stated.
Then, at 1.53, the controller received reports of the crash from police and the Brisbane supervisor was notified about half an hour later.
Air Services told 7news having one controller on during the night shift is not unusual, with their review finding the employee was not at fault.
“The controller did not sleep during this short break period. The controller attended the audio cues,” the document stated.
“The controller acquitted their responsibilities in the provision of services. The unauthorised and unscheduled flight by ERH, was not attributed to Airservices.”
Mr Finn said he too could not fault the control tower employees.
“The guys in the tower do a great job, everyone has to take a break so we shouldn’t be throwing stones,” Mr Finn said.
“It’s a flight that took off with no radio communications, no lights, it's a very unique situation.
“Even if it was detected, you’d order them to land immediately, and in this situation, good luck with that.”
Mr Finn said aside from notifying authorities, there “wasn’t much more” the tower could do particularly for the estimated four-minute rogue flight.
The Nautilus Aviation boss said the business had returned to normal operations and the incident hadn’t affected travellers.
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Originally published as Cairns helicopter crash: Nautilus Aviation CEO defends control tower employees following fatal incident
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