Heliport
1st Sep 2005, 22:26
ABC News Online Two escape helicopter crash
Authorities say a trainee helicopter pilot and his teacher were lucky to escape injury when they crashed near the Gold Coast airport in Queensland this afternoon.
The Jet Ranger was extensively damaged in the crash about 800 metres from the Coolangatta terminal.
But the two men on board walked away unharmed.
Peter Gibson from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says the men were trying to practise an emergency landing procedure.
"The pilot and the student pilot were attempting an auto-rotation, which is essentially a landing without power on, a simulated engine failure, and unfortunately they landed very heavily," he said.
"The tail boom of the Jet Ranger was in fact cut off."
New South Wales police and air safety authorities are investigating.
Authorities say a trainee helicopter pilot and his teacher were lucky to escape injury when they crashed near the Gold Coast airport in Queensland this afternoon.
The Jet Ranger was extensively damaged in the crash about 800 metres from the Coolangatta terminal.
But the two men on board walked away unharmed.
Peter Gibson from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says the men were trying to practise an emergency landing procedure.
"The pilot and the student pilot were attempting an auto-rotation, which is essentially a landing without power on, a simulated engine failure, and unfortunately they landed very heavily," he said.
"The tail boom of the Jet Ranger was in fact cut off."
New South Wales police and air safety authorities are investigating.