CASA deleted crocodile safety rule before fatal Outback Wrangler chopper crash

CASA removed a crucial condition from crocodile egg collecting authorisations making it easier for someone slinging beneath a helicopter to die before the fatal chopper crash that killed Netflix star Chris Wilson.

Netflix star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority removed a crucial condition from crocodile egg collecting auth­orisations granted to Outback Wrangler host Matt Wright and others – without conducting a risk assessment – making it easier for someone slinging beneath a helicopter to die before the fatal chopper crash that killed Netflix star Chris Wilson.

The Australian has obtained – through multiple Freedom of Information applications – the auth­orisations issued to crocodile egg collecting operators in the Northern Territory in the past decade and conducted an analysis of their conditions.

Every year since at least 2010, CASA has been granting or renewing an approval – called a legislative instrument – to a number of operators, allowing them to sling a person beneath their piston engine-powered Robinson R44 helicopters to collect crocodile eggs if they meet certain conditions.

Emails obtained by The Australian show that every year the operators would send a brief email to CASA requesting that their instrument be renewed and a CASA delegate – from various branches – would automatically process their request.

Up until 2017, instruments for the dangerous activity included an important safety condition which stipulated that the sling person was not to be lifted to a height greater than 5m above the ground or water.

“The person is only to be lifted to a height above the ground or water that enables the person and aircraft to safely traverse over natural obstacles,” the December 2016 instrument stated.

“In all other instances, the person is not to be lifted more than 5 metres above the ground or water.

“Minimisation of injury to the person in the event of hook release (whether planned or inadvertent release) must be considered in the context of the height the aircraft is operated above the ground or water at any particular time.”

Outback Wrangler host Matt Wright.

This condition was crucial to the sling person’s safety because extensive research into survivability shows falls from more than 5m are often fatal while falls from less than 5m are survivable.

When CASA renewed the instrument granted to Wright’s company Helibrook for the crocodile egg collecting season starting in December 2017 the height condition had been completely removed.

That means that since 2017, CASA has allowed crocodile egg collectors to be slung beneath a helicopter at any height.

CASA did not respond to questions from The Australian about why the height limitation was removed from the instruments, who approved its removal or whether a risk assessment was conducted before the conditions were changed.

A CASA spokesperson yesterday said that “given multiple investigations involving crocodile egg collecting are ongoing it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time”.

In mid-July The Australian submitted another Freedom of Information application to CASA seeking all risk assessments related to the instruments and the supplemental type certificate for the dual cargo hooks to which the sling person is attached.

In response, CASA said it could not find any evidence of risk assessments related to these authorisations or approvals.

Netflix star and chopper crash victim Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson marking crocodile eggs. Picture: Supplied.

In September 2021, the aviation safety regulator renewed Helibrook’s most recent authorisation – permitting his company to continue collecting crocodile eggs with someone hanging from piston engine powered helicopters – in contravention of the looming new flight rules.

In December 2021, the new Part 138 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations commenced, prohibiting human external cargo operations with piston engine helicopters.

Under the new rules, the activity would only be permitted using turbine engine powered helicopters.

Upgrading to the safer and more expensive turbine engine rotorcraft was going to impact the profit margin of operators in the lucrative crocodile egg collecting industry.

On September 6, 2021, someone from Helibrook emailed CASA: “Hi Regservices, I am writing to formally request a renewal of our Human sling instrument for croc egg collecting for this upcoming season. Thanks.”

The next day, the instrument renewal was issued for an unprecedented 40 months.

Helibrook’s destroyed Robinson R44 at the King River crash site. Photo: ATSB

These types of approvals are normally only granted for up to 12 months but the instrument, issued on September 7, 2021, had an expiry date of December 31, 2024.

Months later, in February 2022, Wilson was killed when one of Helibrook’s piston engine powered R44s crashed during a crocodile egg collecting mission at West Arnhem Land.

Pilot Sebastian Robinson was critically injured and suffered severe spinal injuries.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau yesterday said its final report into the fatal crash had reached the “external review” phase in which directly involved parties could “check the report’s factual accuracy” and provide feedback before it is published next month.