A video filmed inside one of the helicopters involved in a mid-air collision on the Gold Coast shows a passenger apparently trying to warn the pilot seconds before the crash that killed four people.
The video, obtained by 7News, was filmed by tourists who survived the crash at Sea World on Monday afternoon.
7NEWS has obtained vision that was filmed on board one of the helicopters involved in this week's deadly collision on the Gold Coast. The video shows one of the passengers tapping the pilot on his shoulder to warn him. https://t.co/OF81oZXOfr #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/6U7wyO0VhM
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) January 4, 2023
It captures a passenger tapping the pilot, Michael James, on the shoulder before the other helicopter’s blades smashed through the cockpit’s windscreen. The passenger also grips the pilot’s chair.
James managed to land the helicopter on to a sandbank – which experts and investigators have described as an incredible feat that saved the lives of the New Zealand tourists on board.
Passengers and friends, Elmarie and Riaan Steenberg, and Marle and Edward Swart, thanked James in a statement and referred to him as their “hero”.
They said they were “completely devastated by the horrific helicopter accident” after “a fun 5-minute joy ride on vacation to Australia turned into a nightmare”.
“Our gratitude goes out to every bystander who ran to help, every police officer and emergency services personnel who helped us with our immediate needs keeping us calm and making us comfortable,” they told the Courier-Mail.
“We saw mateship in action. Australians come together to help in time[s] of need.”
The collision occurred when one helicopter was taking off and the other was landing. Four people in the second helicopter died, including a Sydney woman, Vanessa Tadros, a British couple, Ron and Diane Hughes, and the pilot, Ashley Jenkinson.
Tadros’s 10-year-old son Nicholas and a nine-year-old boy, Leon de Silva from Geelong West, remain in intensive care. Leon’s mother, Winnie de Silva, was also seriously injured in the crash.
From hospital, de Silva said she had seen “death in my eyes” during the collision and held her son’s hand.
“I heard a huge bang and the only thing I could feel was the shaking of the helicopter,” she told News Corp.
“I don’t remember much [after that] but everyone was trembling and worried.”
Both aircraft were operated by Sea World Helicopters.
On Thursday, Sea World Helicopters’ director and owner, John Orr-Campbell, said he and his staff were “gutted to the core” over death of Jenskinson, who was its chief pilot. He said his team was also mourning “the loss of his passengers and cannot imagine the terrible sadness their families and loved ones must be feeling.”
Orr-Campbell said Jenkinson performed his first flight in May 2007 and eventually became chief pilot in 2019, “overseeing all aspects of safety and flight operations.”
“I knew Ash personally for nine years. He was a fine man and a standout pilot with 6,210 hours of flying to his name,” he said in a statement.
“To lose a man and a pilot of Ash’s calibre is shocking in every sense of the word … my heart aches as I think of Ash’s fiancee Kosha and his one-year-old son Kayden.”
Orr-Campbell said Jenkinson had run scenic flights in the Northern Territory, mentoring several up-and-coming pilots, until the end of September 2011.
He also dedicated more than 700 hours to assist in search and rescue flights in the area and firefighting operations, Orr-Campbell said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the cause of the crash.
On Tuesday its chief commissioner, Angus Mitchell, said investigators would examine witness accounts as well as other evidence.
“We know it’s a busy time of year. We know helicopters are in and out of that Sea World helipad constantly throughout the day. So we’ll certainly be looking at multiple lines of inquiry here around the procedures that were in place and, potentially, what has helped contribute to such a tragic outcome,” he said.
