Collision with hotel in Cairns
 

Several media reports of a ‘red helicopter’ colliding with a hotel on the Cairns Esplanade during the night in Far North Queensland.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-...rash/104212296

Heard it was an "unauthorised flight" - maybe stolen from the airport for a joyride.

Odd. Who flies helicopters at 0200 local time around Cairns?

Maybe read my post above ?

Wow. That is shocking. What’s strange too is it’s almost 6 years to the day since a similar mishap occurred in the USA involving a Dash-8 in the Pacific Northwest.

There was always an uncomfortable amount of online hero-worship of that guy, and I saw a lot of that this past weekend.

Sure hope this wasn’t a copycat type deal…

Discussion also here.

We will let both Threads run for now as there are significant issues for both Rotorheads and Dunnunda residents.

Nothing on FR24... What type was it?

Red helicopter was the report. Bell 505, right? Kamikaze job. No reason for a helicopter to flying there at night unless you are QG Air and it wasn't that. Would have to be a pilot if it was nicked from the airport as a non-pilot wouldn't get it off the ground let alone all the way into town.

Was R44

Stolen by a possible pilot, possibly drunk, possibly an ex-employee. Or possibly Suicide by Helicopter?

Lot's of Possibilities as it has only just happened really. The ATSB will terminate any investigation if it was stolen and leave the investigation to the QPS no doubt.

I would say they must have been some sort of pilot to be able to start, take off, fly from Cairns airport down to the waterfront all in the dark.

It's an R44, 3AW here in Melbourne reporting stolen.

Nah. If it was a pilot who holds or has held a CASA medical then they'd investigate it.

Eye witness report it might have been nicked from the pier next to the hotel where it crashed. I didn't know they parked helicopters there overnight.

check the times of posting.. I was one minute behind you bro. Never saw your post…

Negative.

The webtrak playback had it departing from the CNS Pads before it conducted half dozen orbits around the metro area, then went out over water for a period, then coming back and colliding with the building.

The playback was removed around 6am.

Agreed Ned, someone with no helo experience would barely get off the ground.

IIRC it was the new owner at the controls. The instructor said to go sit in it and get familiar and he would be out in a minute. Perhaps took that too literally.

edit: sorry was referring to Megan’s post above.

Sounds like lack of situational awareness by the pilot

joe bloggs - What does IIRC mean? Does this story come from "the instructor"
Can't imagine a flight lesson at 2:00 am
The cryptic "unauthorized flight" sounds like a description of a student owner taking his or her own
helicopter on a spur of the moment on what they knew was a one way flight.

He uses the word ‘it’ but actually refers to a different accident posted by Megan.

Sad. Would look like 9/11 but its like 8/11 instead. He must be FUI. I suppose.

Latest news refers to it as "Stolen".

I am not an Australian. But even I know a flight from Melbourne to cairns is quite a feat and many refuels

The instructor was running late in getting to the airport and actually told the owner, Cline Hoggs, not to touch anything until he got there. But since Hoggs had been saving 20 years for his helicopter, he got a bit antsy and decided to fire it up and see how things work. While he never intended to fly, it did, and the rest is history. The only reason there is a video of the incident was Hogg had a friend bring his movie camera to film his 1st flight in his helicopter as this was a few years before cell phones became the rage.

Here's the NTSB Final Report:

"Analysis
A HUGHES 269B WENT OUT OF CONTROL AND COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND DURING A T/O TO A HOVER. THE PILOT HAD PURCHASED THE AIRCRAFT RECENTLY AND WAS LEARNING TO FLY IT. HE WAS SCHEDULED FOR HIS FIRST FLIGHT LESSON ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT. THE CFI REPORTED THAT HE HAD TOLD THE STUDENT PILOT TO WAIT FOR HIM AND NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING. WHILE WAITING FOR THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR, THE NON ROTORCRAFT RATED STUDENT PILOT STARTED THE AIRCRAFT, RAN IT UP TO FULL RPM, AND THEN BEGAN TO INCREASE THE COLLECTIVE PITCH CONTROL. THE HELICOPTER CLIMBED VERTICALLY TO A HIGH HOVER AND THE PILOT LOST CONTROL. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE HAD NOT RELEASED THE CYCLIC FRICTION BEFORE BECOMING AIRBORNE. THE PILOT INDICATED HE HAD ABOUT500 HOURS OF FLIGHT TIME BUT DID NOT SPECIFY THE TYPE AND NO SUBSTANTIATION OF THE TIME COULD BE MADE."

News in Australia is reporting that the pilot was an ex-employee of the operator.

Actually 8/12 local date of the incident (if using US date terminology). As for reasoning, time and further investigation may reveal.

If you were a (disgruntled) ex-employee hell-bent on payback wouldn't you nick the flash new 407 and create a bit more carnage?
Reports now it was only in the air for 4 minutes, don't know how you can get from the airport to down town and do all those things in only 4 minutes. He must have been humming it so fast I'm surprised it didn't self destruct inflight. News.com.au is still reporting it was a twin engine 44, no wonder he could go so fast.

How much more carnage would it have actually created?

Also, maybe the pilot wasn’t rated on the B407 😉

120 gallons of burning kerosene might cause a bit more carnage than 45 gallons of petrol. I'm not rated on the 407 either but I reckon I could probably get one into the air.

Reasons as to why he did this would be from serios to as mundane as childish. But none of these would justify an out-of-this-world action. GTA perhaps. Grand Theft Aircraft.

Link

Pilot identified.

Darwinian selection in action......

Propellers fell off as usual.

My guess is this will kill any sort of alcohol in the workplace at an airport. News says they were at a going away party for the guy that evening. Sounds like the alcohol got the better of him - sad end to a promising career.

I don't think that the party was at the Airport, Ned:

Pilot that crashed chopper into luxury Cairns hotel had earlier been celebrating promotion

Pilot that crashed chopper into luxury Cairns hotel had earlier been celebrating promotion (msn.com)One whistleblower claimed he had been intoxicated and put to bed.

But sometime later, he left his room, headed to the airport and got behind the controls of the helicopter, 'gaining unauthorised access', before crashing just four minutes into the flight.

So the "promotion" for the qualified pilot was from loading passengers at one base to refueling helicopters at another, right?

Welcome to GA Australia. If he’d stuck it out refueling on Horn Island for 3 years he’d have been next in line for the tourist flight gig.

It was reported that he had an NZ PPL only - quite normal for PPL to do dogsbody work in order to fund progression.