The pilot of a helicopter that crashed into a hotel in Cairns had been celebrating a promotion with friends earlier that same night, 9News understands.
The Robinson R44, owned by Nautilus Aviation, speared into the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel on the intersection of The Esplanade and Florence Street about 2am yesterday.
Pilot Blake Wilson was killed while hundreds of guests evacuated the building.
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He’d just been promoted and was enjoying celebratory drinks with colleagues just hours before the fatal crash.
“He was recently promoted to a ground crew crew position at another one of our bases,” Nautilus Aviation chief executive Aaron Finn said.
“We can confirm this event did occur and was privately organised, send up for the individual involved on Monday morning’s incident.
“This was not a work event and was coordinated by friends.”
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Those friends were some of the last to see Wilson alive.
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.
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“We’re focused on the phases of flight particularly that four minutes that the helicopter was in the air, how access was gained, how it got off the ground and exactly what was the sequence of events,” Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said.
Wilson was a licensed pilot in New Zealand but not accredited here.
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Today, the aircraft was lowered into an industrial bin by a 250 tonne crane while the ATSB spent time at Nautilus Aviation’s head office in Cairns interviewing staff and senior management.
The company said it is fully cooperating with investigations.
”We offer our heartfelt condolences to the individual’s family and all who have been affected by this tragedy and continue to offer our support to our employees during this very challenging period,” Finn said.
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