Fatal tourist chopper flight in Cairns ‘unauthorised and unplanned’

A man who stole a helicopter from Cairns Airport in the early hours of Monday morning and flew it into a waterfront hotel full of people, ending his own life, was believed to be an employee of Nautilus Aviation.

A large crane lifts the wreckage of a Robinson R44 helicopter off the roof top of the Double Tree Hilton hotel into a skip bin, before lowering it to the Cairns Esplanade. The chopper was stolen from Nautilus Aviation and crashed onto the roof at about 1:50am on Monday. Picture: Brendan Radke

A man who stole a helicopter from Cairns Airport in the early hours of Monday morning and flew it into a waterfront hotel full of people, ending his own life, was believed to be an employee of Nautilus Aviation.

The R44 Robinson helicopter belonging to Nautilus, was taken from a general aviation hangar at the airport about 1.48am, and flown low and erratically for a mere 4 minutes before crashing into the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in the no-fly zone of Cairns Esplanade.

The sole occupant of the chopper was declared dead at the scene.

An elderly couple whose room was below the point of impact, was taken to hospital suffering shock and minor injuries as a result of windows shattering.

Nautilus Aviation chief executive Aaron Finn confirmed the flight was unplanned and unauthorised.

Mr Finn said all pilots who worked for Nautilus were safe and accounted for, but he could not rule out the possibility someone else in the company was responsible.

“We have quite a lot of staff in the organisation. We can’t identify (the person responsible) from CCTV footage, it’s very dark,” he said.

The crash caused a fire on the roof of the hotel, and up to 400 guests and staff were evacuated as emergency services swarmed the scene.

Fearing an explosion, the crowd was moved to an area of safety as fire and rescue officers secured the site and police declared a public emergency.

Debris from the helicopter was scattered up to 80m from the point of impact including the rotor blades, with one of the blades found in the hotel pool and another on the esplanade.

Mr Finn said the incident had come as a shock to Nautilus, and everyone had been given the day off in response.

Part of the helicopter’s rotor blade landed in parkland on the opposite side of the Esplanade. Picture: Brendan Radke

Queensland Police acting chief superintendent Shane Holmes said the helicopter was “moved from the 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 helicopter went into the air,” said Supt Holmes.

“It’s pure luck no-one else was injured, it could’ve been much worse.”

Cairns Airport general manager Richard Barker said they were assisting authorities with their formal investigation into the crash.

A Nautilus Aviation R44 helicopter.

“Cairns Airport operates under an approved multi-layered transport security program,” said Mr Barker.

“We have conducted a review this morning 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.”

A bystander, who videoed the aftermath of the crash, said she saw the red helicopter come “tearing in over the water” before it struck the top floor of the hotel.

“Went past twice. That thing was just going out of control, and it smashed right in. Unbelievable,” said Veronica Knight.

Police said the single occupant of the aircraft was located and declared dead at the scene. Forensic investigations were underway to formally identify him, police added.

Queensland Fire superintendent Greg Tomlinson praised the “wonderful work” of hotel staff, in assisting fire officers to evacuate the building.

A Hilton spokeswoman said they were working with authorities as they investigated the incident.

A video posted to social media shows a fireball above the Cairns hotel after a helicopter crashed into its roof.

The helicopter crashed into the Cairns Hotel sparking a major fire and mass evacuation.

An exclusion zone remained in place around the hotel in the centre of Cairns’ tourist precinct.

The police Forensic Crash Unit was investigating, alongside the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said three investigators with experience in aircraft operations and maintenance had been sent to Cairns from Brisbane and Canberra.

He said they would spend the next day or so gathering evidence to understand what happened from the time of takeoff from Cairns Airport to when the chopper impacted the building.

“We know that visibility was down at the time, there was possible rain, we want to understand what the helicopter was equipped with, but also potentially what the helicopter was doing at the time and any nature of the flight,” said Mr Mitchell.

In the event the incident was found to be an “unauthorised flight”, the ATSB was likely to suspend its investigation because the agency was primarily interested in transport safety, he added.

Nautilus Aviation was working closely with police, the ATSB and other authorities.