Radio fault led to deadly Sea World helicopter crash

A catastrophic midair helicopter crash was preventable if a litany of technical and safety issues had been rectified before four people were killed and nine injured.

Two Sea World helicopters collided above the Gold Coast Broadwater in January 2023, during the peak of the busy summer holiday season.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau handed down its final report into the crash on Wednesday, more than two years after the collision.

The report found an inbound taxiing call from one of the helicopters failed to register to the second chopper boarding people on the helipad.

The first helicopter waited for a taxi call from the second helicopter to separate to avoid a midair collision but it never came.

The report said the departing pilot made the taxi call but it was not broadcast due to a fault in the antenna that had existed for days.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s preliminary flight path reconstruction.

That allowed it to receive calls but not deliver them.

The report found limitations in visibility from both helicopters, the failed radio transmissions, and competing priorities when looking at boats and other aircraft led to the midair crash.

The report also found Sea World Helicopter’s system of radio calls, hand signals and conspicuity devices, intended to warn of the presence of another helicopter, was flawed.

The ATSB also found evidence that passengers on both of the helicopters were incorrectly restrained but couldn’t determine the level of contribution to their injuries.

Ash Jenkinson with his fiancee Kosha.

Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said a number of the passengers were ejected from their seatbelts during the crash and if seatbelts had been properly fitted it may have led to more “survivability”.

The issues at Sea World Helicopters began nine months before the crash when the helipads were swapped which increased the risk of collision between the choppers.

New helicopters were introduced a week before the crash and were not fitted with company radio communications and no real-time maps of other helicopters.

Mitchell said these changes and others to the company’s operations undermined the existing risk controls to prevent an aircraft crash.

The lack of technology to identify other helicopters and the radio failures led to pilots relying entirely on a see-and-avoid strategy, but with poor visibility it led to the crash.

“Commercial aviation must have multiple safety defences in place,” Mitchell told reporters.

“It should never be vulnerable to single-point failures such as a faulty radio or pilot’s ability to visually detect another aircraft in the sky.”

Mitchell said the crash was entirely preventable, resulting in the worst possible outcome which was the loss of life.

“All of those failings led to a catastrophic outcome,” he said.

“In terms of how bad they were in themselves, each individual failing was only one part.

“You need to put all of them together for this outcome to have occurred, and the outcome couldn’t have been worse.”

Mitchell noted that Sea World helicopters ha rectified a number of the issues identified in the report but there was still work to be done to improve processes.

Pilot Ashley Jenkinson, 40, British couple Ron and Diane Hughes, 65 and 57, and Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros, 36, died in the crash.

Tadros’ son Nicholas, 10, underwent serious surgeries following the crash while Victorian mum Winnie de Silva, 33, and her nine-year-old son Leon were hospitalised.

The pilot of the second chopper, Michael James, managed to land his aircraft safely, but he and two of his passengers were injured by flying glass when its windshield shattered.

Shine Lawyers are representing several people involved in the crash and those traumatised with claims made against Sea World Helicopters of up to $925,000.

This report will inform any further action, litigation specialist Roger Singh said on Tuesday.

“This was such a profoundly unnecessary loss of life which must be prosecuted fully to ensure it never happens again,” he said.

AAP

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