Amber Millar’s parents beg WA Coroner to investigate unlicensed Troy Thomas’s fatal Broome chopper crash
When Fiona Benbow strapped her 12-year-old daughter Amber into the back seat of a helicopter behind pilot Troy Thomas, she had no idea about his disturbing track record.
The parents of a 12-year-old girl killed in a helicopter crash in the Kimberley want a coronial inquest into their only child’s death and for all parties responsible for failures and cover-ups preceding the incident to be prosecuted as WorkSafe says it can’t act because the potential offender is dead.
When Fiona Benbow strapped her daughter Amber Millar into the back seat of a helicopter behind pilot Troy Thomas, she had no idea that the tourism stalwart had “a high risk appetite”, a history of non-compliance with aviation laws, was unlicensed to fly the chopper or that he knew there was a serious issue with the Robinson R44 Raven I.
In the July 2020 school holidays, Ms Benbow and her daughter were supposed to have been in Bali but when Covid put paid to those plans, they accepted a last-minute invitation from Amber’s school friend Mia Thomas.
They travelled to Broome on July 3 for what was meant to be the trip of a lifetime exploring remote parts of the Kimberley with the Thomas family.
The girls and their parents spent that Saturday morning at the beach before Thomas, an award-winning member of the local tourism industry, suggested a scenic flight over Cable Beach.
The 40-year-old founder of Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures owned seven aircraft including the R44, registered VH-NBY, which he kept in an industrial area north of Broome airport.
On the afternoon of July 4, Ms Benbow watched as Amber and Mia climbed into the chopper with Mandurah teacher’s aide Maddison Down, 24, before turning to walk towards her car.
As Thomas performed a high‑power towering take-off from the confined and crowded area, Mrs Benbow heard “the loudest bang I‘ve ever heard in my life”.
“It was like a lightning bolt in my ear – a crack – that I just can’t erase from my memory,” she said in April when the ATSB released its final report. “I turned around instantly to see the helicopter spiralling out of control, coming down heavily on Amber’s side.
“I could see her face as it tumbled twice, a full circle, and then it hit the ground really, really hard.”
Within 2.7 seconds, the chopper had broken up mid-air, climbed to 75 feet and started spinning before violently crashing into the bitumen below.
The helicopter struck the road surface predominantly on its right side in a nose-low attitude.
Ms Benbow immediately switched to first responder as she fought to save her daughter and others on-board while police, fire, ambulance and Defence Force members rushed to the scene.
At first she could not pull Amber, bleeding heavily, from the wreckage because another passenger was on top of her but she found a knife to cut the harness and extracted her.
The bitumen in the industrial estate was scorching so she carried Amber to the nearest tree, laid her down and began CPR.
Thomas had been killed instantly. Mia and Ms Down were critically injured.
Amber, a confident girl who’d just started high school, died two hours later at Broome Hospital.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau commenced a painstaking investigation that took almost three years to complete.
Only when the ATSB released its final report in April did Ms Benbow and her husband, Clint, discover the pilot’s history and chopper’s issues.
Findings into the cause of the crash were inconclusive but that “following a period of pedal vibration over at least 2 flights, overstress fracture of the attachment lugs of the tail rotor gearbox input cartridge occurred” during that final fatal flight.
The ATSB report detailed how both Thomas and another pilot had felt vibrations in the tail rotor pedals during the previous two flights . The pair had discussed the problem but neither recorded it on VH-NBY’s Maintenance Release.
The R44 pilot’s operating handbook indicates a change in sound or vibration may indicate an “impending failure of a critical component”.
On July 2, two days before the crash, Thomas called an aircraft maintenance engineer, who said the vibration was described to him as “jackhammers”.
The next day, three engineers attended the industrial site and inspected the chopper on the ground.
They conducted a dynamic tail rotor balance and could not detect any problems.
The engineers told the ATSB that they notified Thomas and the other pilot who noticed the vibrations – over the phone that afternoon – that a flight check by a solo pilot must be carried out but none of them logged the issue in the chopper’s Maintenance Release as required.
The safest next step, recommended by the manufacturer, was a graduated flight check that involved hovering by a solo pilot.
“However, the next and final flight involved the conduct of a high-power towering take-off from a confined area with 3 passengers on board,” the ATSB said.
The report speculated that Thomas may have decided to take off at speed believing the vibration was a minor issue associated with excess paint on the tail rotor blades.
“However, there was also evidence that the pilot was willing to take, and expose others to, elevated risk,” the ATSB said.
“Specifically, despite being important safety defences, the pilot did not have a current aviation medical certificate or R44 helicopter flight review at the time of the accident.”
The latter meant Thomas was not equipped to appropriately respond to the tail rotor emergency nor legally authorised to operate an R44 helicopter.
Further, the ATSB found Thomas had “demonstrated acts of non-compliance with multiple aviation safety regulations”.
“Additionally, VH-NBY was operated in a manner that increased the risk of damage or stress to the helicopter on multiple occasions,” the report said.
It found that Thomas, a former friend and business partner of Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright, had been involved in at least six unreported accidents and incidents between September 2016 and March 2020.
These incidents, which occurred in both commercial and private operations, included two tail rotor strikes in different R44 helicopters, and a total hull loss of another R44 helicopter (VH-ZGY) that resulted in serious injuries to a passenger.
A couple of the identified incidents involved the destroyed chopper that killed him and Amber.
At the time of his death Thomas part-owned Swan River Seaplanes and had previously owned Top End tourism venture Outback Floatplane Adventures with Wright, who flew from Darwin to Broome – via Kununurra – to attend Thomas’ funeral.
Amber’s parents said the ATSB investigation was a “soul destroying, excruciating, long and painful process” that had silenced them for almost three years but praised their work as it provided insight into the “many systematic failures” and “serious neglect” that took place.
The couple – shocked by the findings, cover-ups and non-compliance – urged WorkSafe to launch an immediate investigation and commence prosecutions before the three-year statute of limitations lapsed in July.
WorkSafe last week told The Australian its investigation was “completed and the statute of limitations has now expired”.
The probe “identified that the sole director of the entity that may potentially have offended under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 is deceased,” a spokesperson said.
Amber’s grief-stricken parents have written to WA State Coroner Ros Fogliani twice begging for an inquest. They believe it is now their only hope of finding out how this could happen.
They want the Coroner to “shine a harsh light” on systemic issues in the largely unregulated tourism aviation industry and prevent future tragedies.
“A coronial inquest is absolutely paramount because the Coroner has the power to compel people involved in any of the issues, incidents or failures associated with this tragedy to be called up to give evidence when they may not have been forthcoming to the ATSB or WA Police,” Mr Benbow said.
“If there have been more mistakes or cover-ups, the coroner is best placed to uncover them and shine a harsh light on this incident and practices in the tourism sector.
“To date there have been no disciplinary actions against those individuals and companies involved in the loss of our daughter.”
After an inquest, the Benbows want justice.
“We strongly believe prosecutions are in order and are extremely shocked and disappointed they haven’t commenced already,” Ms Benbow said.
“How can people who are highly trained … take it upon themselves to ignore critical procedures (that) are paramount to aviation safety?”
“How can they be allowed to continue working and operating in the aviation industry after such serious misconduct?”
She said multiple parties contributed to her daughter’s death.
“Troy is ultimately responsible as the pilot but there are others who played a part in this fatality such as the pilot who first felt the serious vibration, the maintenance engineers, CASA for lack of oversight and regulatory action, and everyone involved in the systematic coverups of previous incidents and accidents,” she said.
“If they had been reported to authorities, as legally required, the pilot’s dangerous behaviour might have been stopped years ago.
“If we had known then what we know now, there’s no way that I would have let Amber get in that helicopter.”
The Coroner’s office refused to comment yesterday, saying that the decision, when made, will be conveyed directly to the senior next of kin.
When the ATSB’s final report was released, the couple publicly shared a heartbreaking letter to their daughter, promising “we will fight for justice”.
Last week the couple said that life without Amber is “terrible” and a “daily battle”.
“No amount of money can bring our girl back. No amount of anything,” Mr Benbow said.
“We’d just like to see our girl not die in vain and we‘d like to see the tragedies of other families prevented because we’d wish this upon no one at all.”
