The owner of a helicopter that crashed into the roof of a large hotel in the centre of Cairns, killing its pilot, says the flight was “unauthorised”.
Queensland ambulance said emergency services were called to the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel on the Esplanade, on the city’s main waterfront, about 1.50am on Monday. Hundreds of people were evacuated.
A spokesperson confirmed that two of the helicopter’s propellers came off and landed on the street and in the hotel pool.
Queensland police said the pilot died at the scene and forensic investigations were under way to formally identify him.
The pilot was the single occupant of the twin-engine helicopter, police said.
North Queensland-based charter company Nautilus Aviation, which runs scenic tours from nearby on the Cairns waterfront, confirmed on Monday morning that it owned the helicopter and was supporting the ongoing investigation.
“Nautilus Aviation are working closely with the Queensland Police, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and other authorities as they investigate the unauthorised use of one of our helicopters in the early hours of this morning,” the company said in a statement.
At a press conference on Monday, the Queensland police acting Ch Supt Shane Holmes said the helicopter was flown from the general aviation area at the Cairns airport and was “not in the air for a great deal of time” before the crash.
Holmes said the investigation would focus on the movements of the pilot prior to takeoff.
“We are working with a local aviation operator to understand the circumstances that led to the [helicopter] becoming airborne,” he said.
“I think it’s just by pure luck that … more people weren’t injured.”
The ATSB chief commissioner, Angus Mitchell, said the investigation would need to establish if the crash was “a transport safety event” or a regulatory or police matter.
Mitchell said the pilot had not been identified but it would be “very difficult to fly a helicopter if you’re not a pilot or if you’re not experienced”.
About 300 to 400 people were evacuated from the hotel building and there were “no injuries sustained by people on the ground”, the ambulance service said.
Two people from inside the hotel – a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s – were taken to Cairns hospital in a stable condition.
Police said the crash had caused a fire on the roof of the hotel.
A report would be prepared for the coroner by the forensic crash unit and ATSB, police said.
The fire after the helicopter crashed on the roof of Double Tree Hotel in Cairns. A friend was staying there. pic.twitter.com/Q5mkJ0BYHc
— Ben Pennings (@BenPennings) August 11, 2024
Jill Ball and her husband, Robert, who had been staying at the DoubleTree hotel for a couple of nights before a holiday in Arnhem Land, said the noise of the crash was so loud it woke them both up.
Their room was diagonally opposite where the crash occurred, and they could see flames from the impact. Jill said they were initially told to wait in their room, before a second message was given to evacuate.
“It was just such a mess, in as much as there was no communication, it was so disorganised,” she said.
Jill said they were told to “walk this way, then … walk that way [and] the other way” before a bus driver from a tour group staying at the hotel began driving to the evacuation point, taking frightened people across at the direction of police.
“He was doing runs back and forwards and backwards, and he was really the only source of information we had,” she said. “[He] was just such a hero, he was very kind and caring.”
Jill and Robert were in the same bus as the two people who were later taken to hospital, who had been staying in a room near where the helicopter crashed, she said.
“They were just very stressed because, you know, their window had shattered in their room.”
Video on social media showed a fire on the roof of the building.
“A helicopter just flew into a building,” one person said on the audio of footage published to Facebook.
“Boy, that was going fast, that helicopter, too. Unbelievable. Red helicopter. Went past twice, it’s just going out of control that thing was.”
The noise generated by the impact had frightened those nearby, the Queensland ambulance senior operations supervisor in Cairns, Caitlin Denning, said.
“There were reports of it sounding like a bomb, and seeing the fire and smoke, a lot of the occupants of the hotel were unsure of the situation.
“There is a lot of unease here.”
Queensland police declared an exclusion zone around the crash site and members of the public were advised to avoid the area. Police were on the scene investigating the cause of the incident.
Additional reporting from AAP
