A helicopter pilot said he did not hear a radio call shortly before a midair collision in Australia that killed four people including two Britons, according to an interim report.
Diane and Ron Hughes, from Neston in Cheshire, died in the collision at about 2pm local time (0400 GMT) on Monday 2 January in Main Beach, not far from Sea World in the state of Queensland. The pilot of one of the helicopters and a 36-year-old woman from New South Wales also died.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released a preliminary report in relation to a crash between the two sightseeing helicopters on the Gold Coast.
At 1.55pm, the pilot of one helicopter – called XKQ in the report – commenced their scenic flight and was climbing over water in the direction of the sandbar near the helipad.
The pilot of the other helicopter, referred to as XH9 – who later survived – reported that they did not hear a taxi call over the radio from the pilot of XKQ.
“This does not necessarily mean that a taxi call was not made and this topic will be subject to detailed analysis by the ATSB investigation,” the report says. “The pilot of XH9 also reported that they did not see XKQ depart from the park helipad.”
It adds that two passengers on board XH9 spotted XKQ. “Understanding the helicopter would only get closer, at least one passenger attempted verbal guidance to the pilot,” the report says.
“As the verbal guidance did not work, and anticipating a potential collision, one passenger physically alerted the pilot.
“The pilot of XH9 later recalled being alerted to the other helicopter by a passenger, but the pilot did not see XKQ approaching prior to the collision.”
At a height of about 130ft, and 23 seconds into XKQ’s flight, the helicopters collided.
The ATSB chief commissioner, Angus Mitchell, said: “The ATSB has released this preliminary report to detail the circumstances of this tragic accident as we currently understand them but it is important to stress that we are yet to make findings.
“Our findings as to the contributing factors to this accident, and the analysis to support those findings, will be detailed in a final report to be released at the conclusion of our investigation.”
He added: “The investigation will look closely at the issues both pilots faced in seeing the other helicopter.
Mitchell said the investigation would look more broadly beyond the issues of radio calls and visibility.
