Chopper ace set for lift off after lucky escape

It was supposed to be a routine assignment, a final flyover before Lachie Onslow headed back to base camp. Instead, it turned out to be his closest shave in more than 25 years of aerial firefighting.

Aerial firefighting veteran Lachie Onslow. Picture: Simon Scott

It was supposed to be a routine assignment, a final flyover before Lachie Onslow turned his 1966 Huey chopper back through the smoke and headed for base camp. Instead, it was his most dramatic day in more than 25 years of aerial firefighting.

At 4pm on January 10, 2020, the veteran pilot refuelled his iconic Pink chopper Lucy in the Bega Valley as he prepared to make a last assault across Clyde Mountain before calling it a day.

“It was during the final clean-up phase of the bushfire near the Ben Boyd National Park that things went wrong,” says Onslow, who had been dispatched to the area to assist ground crews.

“I took Lucy low over the Ben Boyd Reservoir to refill the bucket for the last drop and then, as I was lowering the bucket down into the water, I lost control of everything.”

A deep growling noise came from the engine and passed through the chopper. In an instant, Lucy’s flight controls were paralysed and Onslow was locked in a vertical nose dive, plummeting from 100 feet above the water.

“The impact was spectacular,” he recalls. “I managed to get two ‘maydays’ out on the radio before the crash but they were rushed and I didn’t think anyone would respond.”

Almost entirely submerged under water, Onslow scrambled to break free of Lucy’s cabin. With a sprained ankle and dislocated shoulder, he waited until “everything stopped moving” before trying to escape. “All I knew was I needed to remain calm and follow my HUET (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training), which I’d completed a month beforehand.

Lucy, the pink water-bombing helicopter, submerged in the Ben Boyd Reservoir in the Bega Valley Shire. Picture: Bega Valley Shire Council

“When everything stabilised, my Aquaman instincts kicked in and I tried to break through my door, then the co-pilot’s exit, but they wouldn’t budge. The sliding doors were also jammed … I managed to grab some air in a pocket at the back of the cabin and finally found a small window … I punched it as hard as I could and it just popped out. I was very lucky.”

After freeing himself from the wreckage, Onslow swam to the banks of the dam and was later found by emergency services, who had heard his maydays.

Throughout the summer of 2019-20, the 48-year-old had been conducting water bombing operations across the state’s central and southeastern regions, as fires blasted their way along much of coastal NSW and Victoria.

After almost three decades of firefighting experience, Onslow soon recognised these bushfires were different. “Before I got to Ben Boyd National Park, I’d been flying over Mudgee and Bees Nest. Both were very bad fires but so was the entire season.”

In September 2019, Onslow painted Lucy bright pink to raise awareness of cancer, choosing to donate a portion of his company’s income to the NSW Cancer Council. “She became quite famous. Throughout the season, people would hear Lucy was nearby and would come to see her.

Lucy after being floated from its resting place to the dam’s boat ramp where it was dragged ashore by military personnel. Picture: Twitter

“It’s sad she’s gone now. She didn’t survive the crash … We have a replacement but I can’t bring myself to give it a name. Somehow it just doesn’t seem right.”

Last month, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau completed its investigation, concluding a bearing failure inside the engine was the main cause of the crash.

“Every machine has a fail point at some stage,” says Onslow. “In a sense, I had a lot of luck – I could’ve been water-bombing on the edge of a cliff and tumbled down the side; that would’ve been curtains.”

For Onslow, flying and firefighting are in the blood. “My ­father was a pilot and I never considered doing anything else. I see it as a passion and a way to give back to the community.”

Asked if he’s ready to fly for another season, Onslow is quick to respond: “Who knows what will happen this year, but whatever the case, we’re ready to go.”