Chilling footage from inside cockpit seconds before chopper crash
January 5, 2023
WARNING: This article contains material that some readers may find confronting.
Chilling vision from on board one of the choppers involved in the fatal Gold Coast collision shows the seconds before a joyride turns into a tragedy.
The video was recorded on board one of the helicopters – capturing the moments before the two choppers crash into each other, with one plummeting from the air on Tuesday afternoon at the Gold Coast Broadwater.
The footage begins with the serene beach below as the helicopter prepares to land, before one of the passengers taps Queensland pilot Michael James on the shoulder.
Within seconds, glass shards shatter into the cockpit when the other chopper careered into its path.
The video ends abruptly, ending with the image of a shattered window.
This helicopter was able to land safely on the sandbar and all six passengers onboard escaped major injury.
Pilot James has been praised for “heroically” landing the aircraft safely despite the damage to the helicopter.
Among the six people onboard the helicopter were two New Zealand couples who said the fun five-minute joy ride turned into a nightmare and they are still processing what happened.
However, the other helicopter hurtled into the ground, killing the four people onboard including the pilot, Sydney woman Vanessa Tadros and British nationals Ron and Diane Hughes.
The survivors, Winnie De Silva and her nine-year-old son Leon, as well as Tadros’ son Nicholas, remain in hospital.
The video will now form critical evidence to be used by crash investigators in the weeks ahead.
Four days after the tragedy, the rattled Gold Coast and aviation community is still mourning the incident.
Earlier today, director and owner of Sea World Helicopters John Orr-Campbell paid tribute to the other pilot Ash Jenkinson who was killed in the crash.
Orr-Campbell called Jenkinson a “first-class pilot, a first-class man and a wonderful father, partner and friend”.
“To lose a man and pilot of Ash’s calibre is shocking in every sense of the word.
“I along with all the staff at Sea World Helicopters are gutted to the core.”
Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused the two Sea World Helicopters aircraft to collide
9news
