Dead pilot broke rules
THE missing pilot of a helicopter that crashed off Cape Tribulation was not qualified to fly at night and was operating an overloaded aircraft not fitted with life jackets.
The body of Mareeba cane farmer Brad Maisel, 50, was not found after his Robinson R22 crashed into the ocean on the way back from a fishing trip on April 7 last year. but they’re now banded together to make their time in the Far North count.
Constable Amy Logan said leaving her former career as a hairdresser was a tough decision, but one she’d make again in a heartbeat.
Passenger Daniel Gray, from Port Douglas, managed to escape the sinking chopper and made a harrowing night swim to shore in known crocodile territory.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released its findings into the crash on Monday, saying Mr Maisel was only qualified to operate during daylight hours.
The report says other contributing factors included exceeding the weight and
“I’ve been living in Cairns for the past five years, but I’m originally from the UK,” she said.
“It’s been a big change in career for me, but policing has always been something that I’ve been interested in.” balance limitations of the helicopter, the fact they weren’t carrying life jackets, incomplete operational information and that the helicopter was overdue for calibration checks on its pitot-static system and altimeter.
“To avoid the usually fatal consequences of losing visual reference, day-VFR pilots need to plan to arrive at their destination at least 10 minutes before last light and to have a realistic ‘plan B’ to use when it
She said she was hoping to make her family proud with her decision.
“My family in the UK, a lot of them are in the police, so as soon as I came here and the opportunity arose I decided that it was definitely some- becomes apparent that the intended flight cannot be completed in daylight,” the report says as part of its safety message.
The pair had been on a daylong fishing trip to Pipon Island off Cape York and caught 20kg-30kg of fish, which had been attached to the left skid of the chopper.
They were travelling with another two men in a separate aircraft.
Buffeted by strong winds on thing that I’d like to take up,” she said.
Constable Logan will be based in Cairns, while the other recruits will be split up between Edmonton, Innisfail, Cairns, the Tablelands and Mossman. the way home to Mossman, they were forced to refuel in Cooktown before continuing on.
The ATSB report says they took off from Cooktown just after 6.30pm and the crash probably occurred off Noah Beach about 7.30pm, which was “about 10 minutes after end of evening nautical twilight”.
The wreckage was found about 400m off the beach in 10m of water.