Rex Martinich
The boss of a joy flight company whose helicopters were involved in a fatal midair collision has denied investigators’ claims the pilots had difficulty seeing out of the aircraft.
Five people were killed when two aircraft from Sea World Helicopters collided midair outside the Gold Coast theme park on January 2, 2023.
Sea World Helicopters chief executive Brett Newman on Tuesday continued to give evidence at an inquest at Brisbane into the crash.
Counsel assisting the inquiry Ian Harvey previously told Coroner Carol Lee the company’s newly purchased EC130 helicopters had “demonstrably more restricted” pilot visibility than older models.
Newman said he rejected the findings of a previous Australian Transport Safety Bureau report that found the EC130 helicopters’ windshield frames could have blocked views of other aircraft above and below the pilot.
“It’s absolutely false. If you move your head, you can see out of any helicopter,” Newman said.
“The ATSB’s report on the visibility was about the pilot sitting there like a zombie looking at the front.”
Sea World Helicopters pilot Ashley Jenkinson, 40, took off just before 2pm with six passengers aboard.
His aircraft collided 25 seconds later with another Sea World aircraft preparing to land at a waterside helipad adjacent to the theme park.
Jenkinson was killed along with British newlyweds Ronald and Diane Hughes – aged 65 and 67 – and Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros, 36, when the chopper plummeted 40 metres onto a sandbar.
The second helicopter, piloted by Michael James, was able to perform an emergency landing on the same sandbar.
A total of nine passengers in both aircraft were injured, including Tadros’s son Nicholas who endured months in hospital and the loss of his leg.
Newman testified he was a trained pilot and Jenkinson could have seen the other helicopter if he moved his head 150mm.
“You move your head back and you’re looking at a big window,” he said.
“There are obstructions in every vehicle you sit in, whether a car a truck or a bus. It’s not an excuse not to see another vehicle.”
An autopsy on the remains of Jenkinson showed a positive test for remnants of cocaine and witnesses saw him taking the drug at a New Year’s Eve party before the crash.
Newman dismissed the ATSB’s simulation of the EC130’s cockpit visibility as a “video game”.
Jenkinson had two years of prior experience in piloting scenic flights in an EC130, Lee heard.
Sea World owner Village Roadshow Theme Parks sold its joy flights operation to Sea World Helicopters in 2019.
Sea World Helicopters has operated as Surfers Paradise Helicopters since July 1.
The inquest continues.
With AAP
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