Millionaire pilot 'lost visibility' in bad weather before chopper crash

Millionaire pilot Richard Green probably lost visibility in bad weather before his helicopter smashed into a mountain ridge, killing all on board, near the NSW Hunter Valley in 2015.

The renowned photographer took off from an anti-mining event near Tamworth in his EC 135 helicopter in November 2015 along with his wife, graphic artist Carolyn, and documentary maker John Davis.

But a storm converged on the valley as they made their way back to Sydney and Mr Green decided to land amid moderate to heavy rain.

Pictures recovered from a phone, published in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's final report into the incident, show the aircraft sitting in a green field under grey skies on the valley floor.

A witness said the group waited on the ground for about 40 minutes as the rain eased, snapped some pictures and took-off again at about 7.15pm.

It appeared briefly on flight radar a few minutes later and vanished.

It wasn't the first time Mr Green had found himself on the wrong side of bad weather.

Richard and Carolyn Green.

In 2004 he was forced to climb into low hanging cloud, sacrificing his ability to see the coastline, so he could safely navigate to a landing zone using GPS.

He may have been attempting to do the same on his final flight, the ATSB said.

Instead, Mr Green "probably experienced a loss of visual reference" before crashing into a heavily forested mountain ridge in the Watagans National Park on the edge of the valley.

The helicopter's wreckage and the upper branches of the 35 metre high trees at the crash site were damaged in a way that showed the helicopter was slightly nose-up when it hit the canopy.

The scene of the helicopter crash. Credit: ABC 24

"As the helicopter passed through the tree canopy, the helicopter cockpit and cabin progressively disintegrated," the report says.

It wasn't found until days after the crash.

Data from flight instruments showed the engines and the rest of the aircraft was operating normally until the impact.

ATSB executive director Nat Nagy said the event should serve as a reminder for pilots to make other plans if bad weather hits.

"If you are not rated or qualified to fly in bad weather, don't go," he said in a statement released with the report on Tuesday.

The lack of fixed emergency beacon delayed the search and rescue operation though this did not affect the "outcome" for the occupants, the ATSB concluded.

The report notes Mr Green was investigated in 2006 after his main rotor blades hit trees and twice more in 2012 after flying too close to grounded aircraft and when his rotors struck a wire.

His licence was briefly suspended but the ATSB could not identify a link between his spotted aviation history and the final crash.

AAP