Don Espey said he tracked up to 4,000 helicopter movements per week over Broadwater in 2018.(
ABC Gold Coast: Kirsten Webster)
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.
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.
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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.
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.