The helicopter pilot who crashed a stolen aircraft into a waterfront hotel was affected by alcohol, an investigation has found.
New Zealander Blake Wilson, 23, was piloting a Robinson 44 helicopter when it crashed upside down into the roof the DoubleTree by Hilton in Cairns, Far North Queensland, at 1.50am on August 12.
The ‘unauthorised’, four-minute journey took off from the Nautilus hangar at Cairns Airport shortly after 1.45am, completing several circuits across the mudflats and over the city’s Esplanade, which is a no-fly zone.
Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft flying dangerously low before it smashed into the hotel roof and burst into flames.
Remarkably, no one but the pilot was killed.
A report by the n Transport Safety Bureau, published on Thursday morning found that Wilson had a ‘significant blood alcohol content’ at the time of the crash.
Daily Mail previously revealed that Wilson had a boozy farewell dinner with colleagues at Nautilus Aviation because he was due to begin a role as a refueller on Horn Island.
‘Prior to the accident, on the evening of 11 August, the pilot had been socialising with friends at various venues in Cairns,’ the ATSB report stated.
‘Witnesses reported and video recordings showed that the pilot had been consuming alcohol and that they returned to their apartment around 2300.’
CCTV footage later recorded Wilson driving away from his apartment shortly after 1am in a company car.
Twenty minutes later he arrived at the Nautilus Aviation hangar at Cairns airport where he used ground wheels to move a Robinson-44 helicopter onto the helipad.
He took off a short time later, flying towards Cairns city centre, adjusting his path slightly to fly over his shared apartment.
He then performed a lap of the Cairns wharf complex before doubling back over his apartment again.
The flight altitude never exceeded 500ft.
‘Two security cameras recorded very brief portions of the final part of the flight,’ the ATSB report stated.
‘These show the helicopter pitching up, then almost immediately descending steeply before colliding into the roof of the hotel at about 1.51am.’
The report revealed that the helicopter had been ‘inverted’ -upside down – at the moment of impact.
‘Most of the helicopter, including its skids, came to rest on the hotel roof and was destroyed by impact forces and a fuel-fed post-impact fire,’ it found.
It also revealed that Wilson’s last recorded flight before his fatal journey was in February 2024 in his native New Zealand.
He had been working as part of the ground crew staff at Nautilus during his time in .
‘The pilot had accumulated 157.8 hours total aeronautical experience, 16.8 hours of which were flown in Robinson R44 helicopters, and 10.35 of which were flown at night in Cabri G2 helicopters,’ the report stated.
More to come.