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Chilling footage from inside the cockpit shows the pilot warning passengers just before the fatal collision with another SeaWorld helicopter, while the video also shows the surviving pilot helping to free people trapped in the wreckage of the helicopter where four people died.
- The images show the interior of the cabin of a helicopter involved in the Sea World accident
Video from inside the cockpit of one of the helicopters involved in the Sea World tragedy shows a passenger warning the pilot about the approach of another plane.
Images obtained by Seven News show the interior of the helicopter in a higher position that it was flying to land, which the pilot managed to stabilize after the collision, allowing all on board to escape with minor injuries.
A passenger in the back seat is shown repeatedly tapping the pilot on the right shoulder with increasing urgency.
Four people in the lower helicopter died after it plummeted onto the sandbank in Gold Coast Broadwater on Monday: pilot Ash Jenkinson, 40, British citizens Ron and Diane Hughes, 65 and 57, and mother from Sydney, Vanessa Tadros, 36.
The images show the interior of the highest positioned helicopter before the collision (pictured)
Ms Tadros’s heartbroken husband, Simon, has asked for prayers for the couple’s son, Nicholas, who has undergone multiple operations at hospital since the accident.
“I ask that everyone please pray for Nicky, that he can wake up and have a good recovery,” Tadros posted on social media.
He is in an induced coma on a life support machine to help him breathe (sic).
“He is in a very serious and critical condition. I ask all his prayers to get my little man back to me.
The helicopter, which had seven people on board, fell from a height and crashed into a sandbank after its main rotor struck the windshield of a second helicopter and broke off.
Nicholas and Vanessa Tadros hold up their Sea World helicopter pass on Monday (pictured)
The cabin of the second helicopter was badly damaged, but pilot Michael James, 52, managed to land on the sandbank, saving the lives of his five passengers, four of whom sustained glass shrapnel injuries.
The passengers included a woman from Western Australia and two New Zealand couples in their 40s who were traveling together.
A second video shows Mr James, having successfully landed the helicopter, working to free his passengers from the crash by cutting their seatbelts with a knife and helping them to their feet.
The Australian Transport Safety Office is investigating the accident, focusing on what was happening inside the two cabins at the point of impact.
Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said Jenkinson’s plane had taken off and was airborne for less than 20 seconds before the main rotor blades struck the cockpit of the second helicopter.
After the pilot managed to stabilize himself and land his helicopter, footage shows him pulling his passengers out of the wreck (pictured)