Final flight: Pilot turned off lights to hide take-off, flew over his own unit

A helicopter that crashed into a Cairns hotel, killing the drunk pilot, hit the building blades-first with its engine on a “high-power setting,” an air safety report has revealed.

One of the rotor blades smashed two windows below the impact site and the helicopter’s fuselage smashed into the building and caught fire, severely damaging the cockpit, systems and engine.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau report released on Thursday said the pilot, Blake Wilson, had high blood alcohol content, but no presence of other drugs at the time of the fatal crash, in the early hours of August 12.

Charter company Nautilus Aviation said in a statement shortly after the crash that Wilson, a New Zealand man employed as a ground staff member with the company since April, did not have clearance to fly in Australia.

The company said he had attended a celebration with colleagues and friends before the flight, before he planned to take up a job at the company’s base on Long Island in the Whitsundays.

The ATSB found Wilson had logged more than 150 hours of aeronautical experience overseas – including 25 hours flying helicopters in daylight and night conditions – but had never flown a Robinson R44 helicopter at night and did not have the clearance to do so.

The pilot of a helicopter that crashed into a waterfront hotel in Cairns was killed and two people were injured.Credit: X

Weather conditions on the night “would not have affected visibility for the pilot as there was an abundance of artificial lighting from city buildings and street lighting,” and wreckage indicated the craft had no defects.

The report concluded “no airworthiness factors with the helicopter that likely contributed to the accident”.

It added that the pilot had turned off the strobe lighting on the helicopter in an apparent attempt to hide his take-off from Cairns Airport staff.

“The flight was an unauthorised but purposeful act, however the Australian Transport Safety Bureau did not determine the reason the pilot elected to conduct the flight,” it said.

“Aviation transport security regulations are in place to keep unauthorised persons out of airports.

“However, as a ground crew of the operator, the pilot was authorised to have access to the helicopter at Cairns Airport and took advantage of that access.”

GPS data from the wrecked helicopter, combined with radar data, showed Wilson had circled around Cairn’s Esplanade area, flying over the apartment he shared with housemates twice.

He had flown below minimum height restrictions for built-up areas, and had put the rotor motors on high power shortly before crashing.

The inverted position of the helicopter caused significant damage where it hit the hotel, shattering multiple windows.

Two guests were hospitalised for injuries related to the crash, and hundreds of others were evacuated as the wreckage caught fire.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing a “massive explosion”, and seeing the helicopter flying at speed around the area before the crash.

Veronica Knight, a Sydney tourist who saw the crash, described it as “like a fuel tank exploding.”