Report finds helicopter pilot Matt Gane might have been killed if he wasn’t wearing helmet in Borroloola crash

HELICOPTER pilot Matt Gane would likely have been killed if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into his 2015 crash near Borroloola has found

Pilot Matt Gane at the CareFlight hangar in Darwin with a replica of the helmet he wore the day his helicopter crashed near Borroloola. PICTURE: Justin Kennedy

HELICOPTER pilot Matt Gane would have likely been killed if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into his 2015 crash has found.

Mr Gane’s Robinson R22 crashed as he was returning to the cattle yards at Kiana ­Station, 90km south of the McArthur River Mine, near Borroloola.

Investigators were unable to pinpoint the cause of the accident, which happened on a clear day with little wind after a morning of mustering cattle. The yoke connecting the helicopter’s clutch shaft and rearward flex plate was found damaged, but investigators concluded it was damaged as a result of the crash, rather than being the cause of the accident.

The wreckage of the helicopter Matthew Gane was piloting when it crashed near Borroloola. Picture: ATSB

Mr Gane suffered a broken pelvis, severe head injuries and spent six weeks in rehabilitation in Royal Darwin Hospital before being transferred to a rehabilitation clinic in Adelaide, where he had to learn to walk again.

He has no memory of the crash.

“The outcome might have been worse if the pilot had not been wearing a helmet,” the report said. The ATSB quoted US military research which found that helicopter pilots and passengers were far more likely to survive crashes if they were wearing a helmet.

The report notes that the helicopter operator had forced its pilots to wear helmets following another crash.

The CareFlight rescue mission to get Mr Gane from the remote crash site back to Darwin was one of the most demanding ever undertaken by the charity and involved their own flight crews, as well as local medicos from the McArthur River Mine clinic.

Earlier this year, Mr Gane was reunited with the CareFlight crew who co-ordinated his marathon, 10-hour return to Darwin.

The lightweight helicopter Mr Gane was flying is commonly used in cattle mustering and for tourist flights.

Since Mr Gane’s crash, there have been four accidents referred to the ATSB involving the same model of helicopter, three of which are still under investigation and one of which also happened when mustering cattle.

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