Mt Disappointment crash pilot had no rough weather experience, an ATSB report reveals

The pilot of a chopper that crashed at Mt Disappointment, killing everyone on board, shouldn’t have flown the day of the crash because he wasn’t experienced flying in rough weather, a report has revealed.

A bombshell report has revealed a pilot who crashed a helicopter on Mt Disappointment, killing all five people on board, should not have flown that day because he was not qualified to fly through rough weather.

Pilot Dean Neal and passengers Paul Troja, Ian Perry, Linda Woodford and Nicholas Vasudeva were on board one of two Microflite choppers that crashed while they were flying from Melbourne to Victoria’s north on March 31, 2022.

A new report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Thursday found Mr Neal and the second pilot knew the two helicopters would be flying in bad weather before they departed Melbourne, but both pilots were only qualified to conduct flights in conditions that allowed them to see where the aircraft was going.

Mr Neal was forced to make a sharp U-turn to avoid flying into a cloud, causing the group to crash into land.

Dean Neal was killed when the chopper he was flying crashed at Mt Disappointment. Picture: Instagram

Tarp cover the downed Microflite helicopter at Mt Disappointment. Picture: Nine News

All five on board were killed when the chopper hit a tree and plummeted into the dense forest below in what has been labelled one of Victoria’s worst recent air disasters.

The report concluded that both Mr Neal and the other pilot should have avoided flying on that day altogether due to their qualification levels, but the pair continued the flights despite weather conditions getting worse.

On board the doomed charter flight were a group of accomplished business founders and colleagues who set off on the trip to inspect property in Ulupna, near Tocumwal.

Ms Woodford was a tech entrepreneur whose work was respected throughout the beef industry.

Alongside her were Radfords chairman Paul Troja, NSW-based finance consultant Ian Perry and head of First Ag Capital Mr Vasudeva, from Sydney.

Dean Neal wasn't experienced with flying in bad weather. Picture: Instagram

The group had flown north for a two-day trip organised by Ms Woodford and they had been up in the chopper the day before on a similar flight without a hitch.

But the next day, a camera inside the helicopter recorded footage and audio of the group’s final moments as they flew into the dangerous “wall of cloud”.

ATSB chief commissioner said the helicopters were not fitted with technology that would have allowed the aircraft to stabilise automatically when Mr Neal tried to turn the helicopter around without being able to see ahead of him.

“During the attempted U-turn without visual cues the second helicopter developed a high rate of descent, resulting in the collision with terrain,” Mr Mitchell said.

Albert Park man Paul Troja was killed in the crash.

“Unfortunately, the pilot had no instrument flying experience, and the helicopter was not equipped with any form of artificial stabilisation.”

Speaking to the Herald Sun, Linda Woodford’s brother, Andrew Woodford, said the crash was “completely preventable”.

“They shouldn’t have even been there,” he said.

“They (pilots) were questioning the weather the night before and they were questioning it when they took off. They were still questioning it en route.”

Nicholas Vasudeva lost his life in the crash.

Linda Woodford was killed in the crash.

Mr Woodford remembered his sister as an “inspirational” and outgoing woman who died in tragic and public circumstances.

“She was the spark, the energy in our family,” he said.

It is not mandatory under aviation regulations for pilots to have flight experience in all conditions, or for aircraft to be fitted with auto-stabilisation controls, but only if they are flying in clear weather.

It is also not compulsory for pilots qualified at that level to undergo training for flying in poor conditions or competency checks.

Microflite had not adopted any of those measures before the crash, but has since implemented several additional practices, including instrument training for pilots that qualifies them to fly in more conditions, new terrain alerts and autopilot on its helicopter fleet.