Palmer’s lemon chopper brings yet another legal blue

Clive Palmer is threatening to sue Italian defence contractor Leonardo over a broken helicopter. Picture: Martin Ollman

It’s pretty tough to find a reliable mechanic these days. Even Clive Palmer is having trouble, in another sign billionaires face exactly the same types of problems as the rest of us mere mortals.

Well, almost.

In this case Palmer’s problem is with a new $12m helicopter, ordered by his privately owned Mineralogy from Italian defence and aerospace company Leonardo in early 2024 and delivered from its former home in Northern Ireland just over a year ago.

The twin-engined chopper, a Leonardo AW109SP, is designed to carry four to six VIPs, making it something of a favourite for those able to afford their own helicopter. It’s also in regular rotation as an air ambulance and search and rescue chopper.

Margin Call hears Palmer acquired it as an upgrade from his existing ariel runabout, an Agustin A119 Koala.

The Leonardo AW109SP. Clive Palmer is in a legal blue with Leonardo over fixing up one of the company's helicopter's bought by the billionaire and damaged in transit. Picture: Leonardo website

Sadly, the new helicopter got a little dinged up in transit from Europe, suffering “impact damage” to its tail and fuselage. Annoying enough when your new Mazda CX5 rolls off the dock with some dents in the panelling, but far more expensive when it renders a chopper unflyable.

So, into the shop it went, transferred down to Leonardo’s Essendon Airport workshop in September 2024. Where, Palmer tells us, the company promised to fix it up and get it back into the air. Including, we’re told, getting the necessary airworthiness certificate required to operate in Australia.

Clive Palmer’s mechanic troubles are all too relatable … except for the fact they concern a helicopter. Picture: Martin Ollman

Sort of like running your old motorbike over the pits after you let the rego expire, we imagine, except a bit more complicated.

Sadly, as we said earlier, it’s pretty tough to find a reliable mechanic these days. Leonardo Australia promised the chopper would be back in Palmer’s hands by November this year — a 13 month repair job, which seems pretty reasonable compared to the times you get quoted at most suburban workshops these days.

But no. According to Palmer, Leonardo assured Mineralogy it could complete the “complex tailboom and fuselage alignment work” by the agreed date, but has now told Palmer it does not intend to complete the work as agreed.

Margin Call isn’t quite sure if that means the Italian company has completely refused to complete the job, pushed the work back indefinitely, or simply set an apprentice on the job who rewired the engine in a novel fashion of their own design, forcing an extension of the return date.

These suggestions, to be clear, come from Margin Call’s own experience with motorbike mechanics over the years.

Unfortunately, Leonardo Australia did not respond to a request to give their side of the story, so we can only guess.

But, as a result, Palmer has spent $12m and doesn’t have a working helicopter.

The ultra-wealthy, of course, have better options for recourse than the rest of us when faced with recalcitrant mechanics. Rather than being forced to stick with leaving a few nasty reviews on Google, Palmer has inevitably reached for the lawyers.

Mineralogy, we’re told, intends to bring legal action against Leonardo for the full $12m value of the chopper “as soon as possible”.

Palmer’s vintage car triumph

No such trouble in Palmer’s extensive collection of vintage cars, however, which took out a swath of judge’s awards at Australia’s premier car rally on the weekend, the Noosa Concours d’Elegance.

Judges awarded the Queensland billionaire’s 1935 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante with ‘Best in Show’; his 1905 Eugene Brillie ‘Best Preservation’ and his 1935 BMW 315/1 Roadster ‘Best Classic Pre 1945’.

While Palmer’s helicopter collection has a few problems, his 900-strong car collection appears to be doing just fine, as the Queensland business magnate builds a museum to display the best of the set.