Pilot Troy Thomas was involved in a serious chopper incident before being killed in Broome helicopter crash
The high-profile West Australian tourism operator who died in a Broome chopper crash that killed a 12-year-old girl was the pilot in another serious incident in the Kimberley – that was not reported to authorities despite everyone on board being injured.
The high-profile West Australian tourism operator who died in a Broome chopper crash that killed a 12-year-old girl was the pilot in another serious incident in the Kimberley – that was not reported to authorities despite everyone on board being injured and the aircraft being lost at sea – less than a year earlier.
In July 2020, pilot Troy Thomas and Perth schoolgirl Amber Millar were killed when his Robinson R44 – registered VH-NBY – crashed immediately after take-off from an industrial site in Broome.
The Australian can now reveal that less than 12 months earlier Thomas had crashed a different helicopter off the top of his boat with passengers onboard and did not report the incident to authorities because he feared it would affect the sale of his business Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures to tourism giant Journey Beyond which was close to being finalised.
On July 12, 2019, Thomas, his operations manager Bryce McGlashan and passenger Chelsea Cortese had boarded the tourism stalwart’s helicopter – a Robinson R44 Clipper II registered VH-ZGY – which was on the helipad of his vessel
High Calibre, moored at Raft Point off the Western Australian coast, to return to Thomas’s HFSA pontoon.
Mr McGlashan, also a pilot, was sitting in the front passenger seat and Ms Cortese, aged 20, was seated behind him.
The weather was fine and the water in the bay was calm but as soon as Thomas – who was then an award-winning WA tourism ambassador – tried to take-off, the helicopter yawed left, tipped forwards and rolled to the right.
The main rotor blades struck the starboard side of the vessel, slicing through the boat and shattering the glass windows before nose diving into the water.
Mr McGlashan, Ms Cortese and Thomas all suffered severe injuries and the helicopter was destroyed.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau only discovered the Raft Point crash, which was by law “immediately reportable”, during its three-year investigation into the fatal Broome incident.
Its final report revealed that no-one had reported the crash involving VH-ZGY to authorities. Responsibility for reporting the crash primarily rests with the aircraft’s owner and operator.
The incident might have remained a secret had WA Police not found photos of High Calibre’s significant damage on Thomas’s phone after his death.
It was only then that a witness told the ATSB the chopper was still tethered to the boat and a holding strap was still attached to the underside of the helicopter when Thomas tried to take-off from the helipad.
Immediately after the crash, Thomas had told others that Mr McGlashan – who suffered spinal injuries – had hurt himself by falling down High Calibre’s engine room stairs while going to check the generator which he said had failed.
The morning of the crash, pilot Tonia Mathis had been flying a seaplane towards High Calibre with Thomas’s wife Sophie, the couple’s children, family friends – Amber Millar and her parents Fiona and Clint Benbow – and chef Kendra Anderson on board. They were arriving to set off on a winter holiday onboard High Calibre.
But when the seaplane was just minutes out from High Calibre, Ms Mathis received a call over the aircraft’s radio telling her not to approach the vessel and to land elsewhere. Seconds later, Ms Thomas received a similar call on her mobile.
Ms Mathis followed her boss’s orders and landed the seaplane in another bay.
When the seaplane landed, a boat called Relentless – which had been accompanying High Calibre – approached with Thomas, Mr McGlashan, Ms Cortese and High Calibre’s master on board.
After removing seats from the seaplane so that Mr McGlashan could lie flat, and putting him into a neck brace and spinal board, Ms Mathis flew him and Ms Cortese back to Broome.
That afternoon, Thomas told his family, friends and the chef that their holiday aboard High Calibre was cancelled due to the “failed generator”.
The next day a boat builder was flown out to the pontoon to meet Thomas, who then took him to fix High Calibre.
On the morning of July 19 – a week after the unreported crash – High Calibre was spotted being repaired and painted on the water about 50nm west of the crash site.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority told The Australian that it has no “record of an incident with the High Calibre in July 2019” despite an obligation on the vessel’s owner and master to report marine incidents to the agency.
The ATSB said the destroyed helicopter was never inspected or recovered, and the actual cause of the rollover has not been determined.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority told the ATSB, during the Broome crash investigation, that it confirmed the loss of VH-ZGY with an insurance agent.
CASA records show that VH-ZGY, which was operated by Thomas’s company Avanova, was not deregistered until May this year after the ATSB revealed the aircraft was destroyed four years ago.
This comes after a WA coroner last month refused to hold a coronial inquest into Amber’s death.
