In summary
A member of the ground crew of the company that owned the helicopter crashed it into a Cairns hotel early Monday morning.
A safety expert says the crash is an opportunity for airlines to review their procedures.
What happens next?
Police and traffic safety investigations are ongoing.
Queensland’s Premier says it is “too early to say” whether a full review of airport security is needed following the fatal helicopter crash in Cairns, now that the pilot of the “unauthorised” flight has been identified.
The helicopter, flown by Nautilus Aviation ground crew member Blake Wilson, crashed into the Double Tree Hilton in Cairns early Monday morning, killing him and injuring two guests.
Investigators believe the helicopter was hijacked from Cairns Airport before flying into the no-fly zone over the CBD.
Nautilus Aviation chief executive Aaron Finn said Mr Wilson, who had worked for the company for about four months, held a New Zealand pilot’s licence but had never flown in Australia.
The accident occurred after an informal farewell party for Mr Wilson, who had been promoted within the company, Mr Finn said.
In a speech on Tuesday, Queensland Premier Steven Miles said it was too early to say whether a review of airport security was necessary.
“Cairns Airport may well consider reviewing its specific arrangements, but I think it is too early to judge,” he said.
Lessons can be learned from the incident
Dr John Coyne, director of the border security program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said such incidents were rare but lessons must be learned from them.
“Just because it is not a terrorist incident does not mean we should not learn lessons from it,” he said.
Dr Coyne said there was a “sliding scale” of security measures at Australian airports.
He said it was logical that smaller airports would have fewer security measures in place than big city airports, but urged operators to consider both the costs and risks of securing their hangars.
“For all the small operators out there, an event like this should be an opportunity to review security procedures and who has access,” he said.
“There is no reason why all ground staff should have access to the aircraft after work.”
While he declined to comment on specifics, Dr Coyne said all airlines “should go through corporate procedures”.
“A generally good security practice is to ask yourself: What are the risks to my business? Can my procedures prevent and mitigate those risks? What can I do that is cost-effective and protects me at the same time?” he said.
“A single data point does not constitute a pattern or trend. I would like to see business owners look at an incident like this and at least review their security measures to some extent.
“Do I have a vulnerability? And what can I do to mitigate this vulnerability?”
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