Broome Council never authorised industrial site to be used as helicopter landing strip before fatal crash
Award-winning WA tourism operator Troy Thomas used an industrial property in the Kimberley as a helicopter landing site – without council permission – for at least four years before it became the scene of a fatal crash.
Award-winning West Australian tourism operator Troy Thomas used a crowded industrial property in the Kimberley as a helicopter landing site – without council permission or anyone noticing – for at least four years before it became the scene of a fatal crash that killed him and a 12-year-old girl.
On July 4, 2020, Thomas and Perth schoolgirl Amber Millar were killed when his chopper – registered VH-NBY – crashed within 2.7 seconds of take-off from the Bilingurr industrial site, 3km north of Broome Airport.
The Australian can now reveal that immediately after the double-fatality WA Police exercised their coronial investigation powers to find out if the high-profile tourism operator was authorised to take-off from and land aircraft at the crowded Antheous Way property, just a few minutes’ drive from a regional airport.
Documents obtained from Broome Shire Council under Freedom of Information laws reveal that three days after the crash detectives were already asking whether Thomas had approval to use his private warehouse and residential premises as a helicopter landing site.
On July 7, 2020, a Broome detective – whose name was redacted – asked the council for copies of building plans, zoning, complaints and planning approvals related to the industrial site.
Planning and Building Services manager Kirsten Wood told police the property was zoned ‘Light and Service Industry’ under Local Planning Scheme No 6.
“The Shire did not receive any request for approval to land and take off helicopters from the site,” she emailed the investigator.
“To use the land as a helicopter landing pad, the land use definition under LPS6 would be ‘landing strip’... A ‘landing strip’ is an ‘X’ use (not permitted) in the Light and Service Industry area, which the subject site is zoned.
“The Shire has not issued any specific approval for the property to be used as a landing strip.”
Ms Wood said that the site was only approved as a warehouse, which is the “storing of goods”, and a development application would have needed to have been submitted and approved to use the site as a landing strip.
“Through the application process it would have to be demonstrated how the land use is incidental to an approved use on site,” she said.
“It would also need to be demonstrated that CASA safety standards would be met and noise regulations could be satisfied.”
The correspondence between council officers and WA Police suggested that Broome Shire was unaware of Thomas taking off from and landing helicopters at the Bilingurr industrial site because it never received any reports or noise complaints about aircraft activity at that location.
The fenced 2000-square metre property – which Thomas and his widow Sophie purchased in 2007 – contained large sheds and private residences where the Thomas family lived. It was also used to store equipment and assets for their tourism operations.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report into the fatal crash said that due to COVID-19, more equipment than usual was stored at the industrial site at the time of the fatal crash.
“As a result, the site was more confined than usual, presenting an increased risk for helicopter operations,” its final report said.
“The site at Bilingurr was used as the home base for the helicopter and partly intended for use for the arrival or departure of helicopters.
“The operator stated that the site was operated as a basic helicopter landing site (HLS). However, helicopters had been used at the site for at least 4 years.”
A civil aviation advisory circular in force at the time of the crash defined “basic” HLS as “a place that may be used as an aerodrome for infrequent, opportunity and short-term operations … by day under helicopter Visual Meteorological Conditions.”
In the weeks preceding the fatal crash, both Thomas and pilot Bryce McGlashan had observed an unusual vibration through the tail rotor pedals of VH-NBY.
The day before the fatal crash, on July 3, a team of engineers from an approved maintenance organisation attended the industrial site to inspect the chopper but refused to perform the required check flight at that location for safety reasons.
“The LAME (licensed aircraft maintenance engineer) reported wanting someone to fly the helicopter as they wanted to determine if the reported vibration in the pedals was detectable in flight,” the ATSB report said.
“The AMO pilot elected not to hover or fly the helicopter in the industrial site as they felt that it was too confined and were concerned about foreign object damage if they hovered the helicopter.”
The owner of the AMO told the ATSB that he advised both Thomas and Mr McGlashan of the requirement for a check flight to be carried out. This was also annotated in their maintenance documentation.
“However, the pilot that first detected the vibration and the accident pilot were reportedly unaware that a check flight was required,” the ATSB wrote.
The next day Thomas, a private pilot who was unlicensed at the time, performed a high-powered vertical take-off from the industrial site in VH-NBY with three passengers on board.
“The confined area associated with the industrial property required the pilot of VH-NBY to conduct a near-vertical departure, within the avoid area of the height / velocity diagram, limiting the energy available in the helicopter to use in an emergency response,” the ATSB found.
“That departure also demanded higher power than the recommended take-off profile over open ground.”
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has previously declined to answer questions about whether Thomas had permission to take off from or land at the industrial site; however emails between Thomas and CASA obtained under FOI make no mention of it.
Civil Aviation Regulations state that an aircraft shall not land at, or take-off from, any place unless the place “is suitable for use as an aerodrome for the purposes of the landing and taking-off of aircraft; and, having regard to all the circumstances of the proposed landing or take-off (including the prevailing weather conditions), the aircraft can land at, or take-off from, the place in safety”.
Helicopter take-offs from the industrial site required clearance from Broome’s Air Traffic Control tower because the site is within Class Delta airspace.
The Australian is aware of Thomas taking off from and landing at the property on multiple occasions, including with paying passengers after performing an unauthorised medical evacuation from a vessel in August 2019.
This comes after a WA coroner last month refused repeated pleas from Amber’s parents to hold an inquest into their only child’s preventable death.
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