Pilot Troy Thomas performed unauthorised helicopter medical evacuations before fatal Broome crash

A high-profile tourism operator, whose private pilot licence had expired, was performing commercial medical evacuations off the WA coast before the fatal crash that killed him and 12-year-old Amber Millar.

Amber Millar.

A high-profile tourism operator, whose private pilot license had expired, was performing commercial medical evacuations off the coast of Western Australia before the fatal Kimberley chopper crash that killed him and a 12-year-old girl.

In July 2020, pilot Troy Thomas and Perth schoolgirl Amber Millar were killed when his helicopter – registered VH-NBY – crashed immediately after take-off from an industrial site in Broome.

The Australian can now reveal that prior to the fatal crash, Thomas was performing medical evacuations in his choppers for which he charged passengers thousands of dollars.

In July 2019, Thomas airlifted a passenger from luxury catamaran MV Diversity II, off the WA coast, in his Robinson R44 registered VH-ZGY. That helicopter was destroyed the next day when he crashed it off the top of his boat.

Weeks later on August 2, Thomas airlifted Elly Hayes and her husband David from expedition vessel Odyssey in a different helicopter and charged them almost $2000 for the service.

Ms Hayes, 76, said that Thomas performed the paid medical evacuation after she became unwell on the first afternoon of a nine-day cruise.

The Australian understands that the vessel’s skipper called the Royal Flying Doctors Service, who conducted a telehealth consultation.

The vessel’s owner then contacted Thomas about performing a medical evacuation for Ms Hayes and her husband.

“It was kind of dusk when we got picked up,” Ms Hayes said.

“It was a pretty windy and scary ride, I must admit.

“It was one of those tiny little helicopters and the wind was buffeting like crazy.”

Rhys Thomas and son Troy at the Australian Tourism Awards in Launceston in 2019.

Thomas flew the couple to his property at an industrial site, north of Broome.

“He dropped me back to his yard at the industrial site where he has his own home,” Ms Hayes said.

“We sat in his home waiting for the ambulance.”

St John Ambulance confirmed a crew collected Ms Hayes from the Bilingurr property at 5.48pm and transported her to Broome Hospital.

A few days later, Ms Hayes received a $1936 invoice from Ultimate Outback Experiences for the “supply of helicopter for Medi-vac from the vessel Odyssey back to Broome for medical treatment” which the invoice says took 1.6 hours.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission records show Ultimate Outback Experiences was registered in June 2019 and traded as Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures which Thomas founded in 2008. The holder of the company, which is based at the Bilingurr industrial site, is The Trustee for the Thomas Family Trust.

Ultimate Outback Experiences did not hold an Air Operators’ Certificate. Nor did Avanova Pty Ltd, which owned and operated the helicopter.

“We were airlifted by a pilot who we now understand wasn‘t compliant and didn’t have a license and I mean; we could have been killed,” Ms Hayes said.

“We were put in a situation which nobody should be put in.

“The north-west might be a cowboy town but it‘s still Australia and you still have to abide by the laws.

“It‘s mind boggling to think that he’s got away with this in Australia.”

Ms Hayes said her travel insurance, Fast Cover, paid the invoice.

“We‘ve got off scot-free,” she said.

“We were very lucky.

“But how did he get a contract to fly for the RFDS?”

Troy Thomas flying with Ernie Dingo while filming Going Places.

The RFDS last week said that neither Thomas or his companies were contracted to its organisation.

“As far RFDS Western Operations is aware, the organisation has never tasked Troy Thomas or his company Ultimate Outback Experiences, which was trading as Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, to carry out aeromedical retrievals,” a spokesperson said.

“RFDS Western Operations provided a telehealth consult for each of these patients (on vessels Diversity and Odyssey) however RFDS Western Operations did not have any involvement in coordinating or facilitating either medical evacuation.”

Under the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s regulatory framework “air ambulance flights” are considered commercial air transport flights and pilots conducting flights for the RFDS are required to hold a Commercial Pilots Licence.

“Mr Thomas has never held any regulatory approvals other than a private pilot licence and was never authorised to make any safety decisions or fly on behalf of Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures or any other company,” CASA said.

Odyssey’s owner at the time told The Australian he did not know – until after Thomas’s death – that the 40-year-old was unlicensed at the time and unauthorised to perform medical evacuations.

Diversity’s long-time owner last week said she “does not know anything about” the medical evacuation from her 12-passenger charter boat in July 2019 and that her son, who was the skipper at the time, was too busy to speak to The Australian about it.

This comes after a West Australian coroner refused to hold an inquest into Amber’s death, despite repeated pleas from her parents, because he did not believe it would “generate any additional evidence”.