Pilot of crashed helicopter revealed to be employee of aviation company
A pilot who stole and crashed a helicopter into the roof of a hotel in far north Queensland has been revealed as a current aviation employee who had never flown in Australia. The aviation company says he had been at an off duty gathering of employees held on the night of the incident to celebrate a recent promotion. The incident has sparked concerns about airport hangar security across the country.
Transcript
00:00It had been a promotion, a party to celebrate, and it's now known the pilot who died in the
00:07fiery crash worked for Nautilus Aviation but was never authorised to fly.
00:13Nautilus Aviation can now confirm this person was a current employee in a ground crew position.
00:20Joining the company four months ago.
00:23We offer our heartfelt condolences to the individual's family and all who have been
00:27affected by this tragedy.
00:29Police are yet to confirm the pilot's name, while the investigation is ongoing.
00:34The four-seater Robinson R44 was in the air just a few minutes before it made a fiery
00:39impact into the Doubletree Hotel on the Cairns Esplanade.
00:43Debris spilling onto the busy tourist hotspot.
00:47Aviation experts say it's a wake-up call to Titan security as to how an unauthorised flight
00:53on a stolen aircraft could go undetected.
00:56Every general aviation organisation around the globe is going to start looking at their
01:02security procedures and say, can this happen to us?
01:05Especially in light of an elevated national terror threat.
01:09Cairns Airport may well consider whether to look at their specific security arrangements.
01:15Authorities are relieved more people were not hurt.
01:18It was catastrophic and there were two rooms that were heavily impacted.
01:22The helicopter's onboard recording devices will be analysed in Canberra.
01:27There's still a lot of information for us to process before we can conclusively come
01:31up with a flight path.
01:32In a statement, the Cairns Airport CEO said it operates under a multi-layered security
01:38program.
01:39A review had been conducted showing no compromise of airport fence or access points.
01:46Late today, Nautilus Aviation confirmed off-duty staff held a gathering on Sunday night.
01:52A send-off for the pilot who was involved in the crash.
01:56The badly damaged hotel remains closed for lengthy repairs.