Helicopter joy flights should never have been approved in the area where the Sea World tragedy occurred, according to an aviation expert.
Neil Hansford, who has worked in the industry for 40 years, says the approval of several chopper operations kilometres apart from one another in a dense residential area would not have occurred in any other Australian city.
"If you have got an intense level of activity and you have got more than one operator in what is already a congested airspace … it is putting pressure on everybody," he said.
"There is only one thing driving that, and it's dollars."
A group of residents opposed to the joy flight noise at the Gold Coast Broadwater said they tracked up to 4,000 helicopter take-offs and landings per week prior to the pandemic.
"'With the activity they have had and the amount of take-offs and landings, the flying in every weather and the multiple [flights] into relatively confined areas, we were just worried if they had an accident it could land on boats or restaurants," resident Don Espey said.
"We hoped it wouldn't happen."
Main Beach resident Susan Donovan said the activity before the pandemic impacted the Gold Coast tourist market.
"There were five-minute joy rides and many, many helicopters simultaneously taking off and landing — it really was an accident waiting to happen," she said.
Mr Hansford has called for an immediate review into joy flights at the location.
"It is not an ideal situation, other than from a marketing and commercial point of view, to put them next to a theme park and next to major hotels," he said.
"I can't think of another operation in Australia that operates so closely to major high-rise and population densities."
Show cause notice issued
In a separate incident, Gold Coast City Council issued a show cause notice to Gold Coast Helitours, which has operated from the Marina Mirage since 1992.
In August 2020 the company was given a month to prove the use of the premises for air services was lawful.
A council spokesperson said the matter was still under investigation.
"Consideration of the existence and scope of the use rights (if any) has been complex for a number of reasons," the spokesperson said.
The company continues to operate and Gold Coast Helitours chief pilot Scott Menzies says the issue is in the hands of solicitors.
"The matter of a show cause notice issued by the GCCC two years ago is not related to helicopter operations," Mr Menzies said.
"Gold Coast Helitours operates in strict compliance with all requirements of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, under whose jurisdiction air operations are conducted."
The frequency of joy ride chopper trips in the area led Mr Espey to create a group called the Coalition Against Environmental Pollution.
"This sort of a tragedy sort of focuses people on why are they there — how is it being controlled or not being controlled?" he said.
"I would like to see the relocation of a joy flight operation out of a hospitality, residential and recreational area."
Mr Hansford said the council and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) had questions to answer about the amount of oversight of two helicopter operators in unregulated and uncontrolled airspace.
"There has got to be a real focus on the Gold Coast Council's role in regulating the development approvals and CASA Queensland when there is one operation that doesn't have development approvals," he said.
"Its not an environment which should have been accepted by CASA.
"Somebody is going to get a bloody nose and unfortunately bloody noses only come when people lose their lives."
A spokesperson for CASA said air transport operators were "required to have operations manuals and procedures which are approved by CASA".
"As the matter is under investigation it would be inappropriate for us to comment further," the spokesperson said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation into the cause of the tragedy is expected to take several years to conclude.
British couple Diane and Ron Hughes, Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros, and chief pilot Ashley Jenkinson were killed in the mid-air crash last Monday.
Several others were left severely injured.
