Two helicopters collide on the Gold Coast 02/01/23

[red750]

Two helicopters have collided on the Gold Coast at 3 pm 2nd Jan. Details of dead and injured to be advised. TV footage shows wrecked helicopter on the beach near Seaworld.

 

[onetrack]

Reports are coming in of a possible 3 fatalities, and multiple other casualties. One helicopter was apparently taking off, and the other was coming in to land.

 

One managed to land on the sandbank, the other ended up in the water. This is an inexplicable accident, it certainly initially appears to be a lack of situational awareness.

[red750]

Latest report states that one was taking off as the other flew over it. 19 people being assessed for injuries.

[red750]

We were typing together, OT.

[onetrack]

Four fatalities now confirmed, thirteen people assessed for injuries, and six taken to hospital. This is a terrible start to 2023 for aviation.

 

https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/deadly-helicopter-crash-near-sea-world/clced8fc300110jn71bij5owj

[Flightrite]

Risky environment especially this time of year! Awful  start to the year, but there will be more sadly, RIP🙁  

[bull]

https://7news.com.au/news/gold-coast/grave-fears-as-helicopters-collide-near-sea-world-c-9331876?fbclid=IwAR0iNr_bLarCWAD6kLx9IoskatMwrxElOKsTdNBBx0v2YEHWZ0AybhEJhSg

 

[red750]

[cscotthendry]

I'm gobsmacked how this could happen. I fly regularly in this area and everyone is on the same frequency. With two or more helicopters flying out of SeaWorld, I would have thought they would have departure/arrival procedures in place to avoid just this scenario. I know that there are procedures at Ayers Rock and Victor one and even the scenic VFR route to Surfer's Paradise itself. This area has lots of traffic, moreso in peak tourism periods.
So why were there no departure / arrival procedures for the SeaWorld helipad? And if it was one chopper oveflying the helipad while another was taking off, were there radio calls made? There is a mandatory radio call for Porpoise point. Surely it would make sense to make a radio call when overflying SeaWorld helipad or a departure call from SeaWorld.
Also, both choppers were painted black. I've flown over Tangalooma with the choppers flying out of there, that are also painted black. From my experience, black choppers are devilishly hard to distinguish from ground clutter. Looks like the holes in the Swiss Chees struck again.

[sfGnome]

The thing that staggers me (apart from how did this happen in the first place) is that the second helicopter managed to land safely. Have a look at the front of it - there is essentially no front. Presumably the rotor of the first craft took it out, but the pilot of the second managed to a) not get hit, and b) maintain control whilst presumably being in some state of shock. Planes fly themselves; helicopters don’t. S/he must have been incredibly level headed and shock resistant. Wow.  

[onetrack]

Both the pilot and front seat passenger of the chopper that was hit in the front were injured. That makes that pilots efforts in landing successfully, even more remarkable.

 

To add to that, he also managed to steer his stricken craft away from what was described as a pretty big crowd on the ground.

 

I can imagine there will be intense investigation into separation procedures for the flights - and the weather conditions, such as wind strength and sun position, will no doubt also be closely examined.

[facthunter]

Without laying blame it's the type of accident that just shouldn't have happened. The collision sound was commented on by a lot of people. Nev

[Jim188]

 

[Flightrite]

Wonder why the heli driver was in the L/H seat? Distraction will play the biggest part in this tragedy. I know what it’s like, tourists whilst are clueless are a big piece of the Swiss cheese in such events. The surviving driver must be in a very bad space right now!

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, Flightrite said:

Wonder why the heli driver was in the L/H seat?

That ATSB guy has been working flat out since before Christmas. Slip of the tongue, maybe? I would not make too much of it at this stage.

[spenaroo]

wonder if they had a second pilot in the rh seat,
I know the last time I was in a chopper on a tourist flight in Vanuatu, they were using the other front seat to train a new pilot.
not pilot training, but the operator familiarizing with the area and flight details.

[Thruster88]

Maybe Ec130 heli is flown from left seat single pilot.

[Flightrite]

Could be right there, it is French afterall😉

[spenaroo]

14 minutes ago, Thruster88 said:

Maybe Ec130 heli is flown from left seat single pilot.

Bingo,

quick google - rego shown in crash removal photos is VH-XH9, Rego check shows it registered as a EC130.
and the Wikipedia article on this type contains this

"Dependent on customer demand and role, tactical instrumentation and equipment consoles may also be installed in the cockpit. Typically the cockpit is configured for single pilot operations, the pilot being seated on the left-hand side of the forward cabin to reduce the risk of passenger interference with the controls posed by a right-hand position"

[Blueadventures]

6 hours ago, facthunter said:

Without laying blame it's the type of accident that just shouldn't have happened. The collision sound was commented on by a lot of people. Nev

Agree, and perhaps blind spots will be a contributing factor, bit like when aircraft on late final collide due to the faster above coming down on the slower lower one.  

Edited January 3, 2023 by Blueadventures

[onetrack]

This crash is absolutely inexplicable. The video shows both aircraft in clear air, the one taking off ascending, while the one coming in is descending, and they simply run into each other, at approximately 90°.

 

Not one pilot - but both pilots - must have been asleep at the wheel? Surely both must have been trained to ensure distractions were at a minimum in the takeoff and landing phases?

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-03/sea-world-helicopter-crash-what-we-know-gold-coast/101823266

[spenaroo]

interesting to look at the location of the landing pads in that article,
looks like the one climbing was from the water pad (inside the park gates), and the one landing heading to the pad marked in the car park (outside the park gates)?
wonder if its possible there was confusion and the pilot on climb was expecting the one on descent to use the now vacated pad.



I think we have all been on final and expected an aircraft to vacate or taxi across the runway before we land. or vice versa

Edited January 3, 2023 by spenaroo

[spenaroo]

oh, and just for good measure there is a third pad, that is just above where the image in my previous post is cut off.

[Blueadventures]

1 hour ago, spenaroo said:

oh, and just for good measure there is a third pad, that is just above where the image in my previous post is cut off.

Total of 6 pads (3 side by side in car park area).  My image is from Queensland Globe a free viewing sat images.

[red750]

Video just released which was taken from insde the helicopter which was able to land shows the pilot glancing towards his landing spot and a passenger from behind taps him on the shoulder, as if to warn him, a split second before the impact.