Cairns helicopter crash: Blake Wilson identified as ‘unauthorised’ pilot killed in fatal chopper crash

The pilot who fatally crashed a helicopter into a Far North Queensland hotel was a young New Zealand man and current Nautilus Aviation employee who was celebrating a job promotion hours before his death.

Blake Wilson, from Palmerston North, started working for Nautilus soon after relocating to Australia in March.

Mr Wilson, believed to be aged in his early 20s, was a tour guide at Ultimate Hikes in Queenstown before obtaining his commercial pilot license through Christchurch Helicopters in September 2022.

From October 2023 until around March this year he worked for a Helicopter Ag Spraying Company in Hurunui, New Zealand.

On Tuesday afternoon Nautilus confirmed police had established “the identification of the individual who gained unauthorised access to our helicopter hangar and misappropriated one of our helicopters”.

“Nautilus Aviation can now confirm this person was a current employee in a ground crew position, joining approximately four months ago,” the company said in a statement.

“Although the employee held a New Zealand CPL(H) pilot’s licence, they have never flown in Australia or for Nautilus Aviation and were not authorised to fly Nautilus Aviation helicopters.”

Nautilus also confirmed there was a gathering of some Nautilus Aviation employees, including off-duty pilots, on Sunday night.

“We can confirm this event did occur and was a privately organised send-off for the individual involved in Monday morning’s incident, who was recently promoted to a ground crew position at another one of our bases,” it said.

“This was not a work event and was coordinated by friends.

“Nautilus Aviation have today completed interviews with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and QPS and have cooperated with full transparency and disclosure of all events leading up to and following the incident on Monday morning.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the individual’s family and all who have been affected by this tragedy and continue to offer our support to our employees during this very challenging period.

“We will be making no further comment at this time.”

Sources told The Nightly that Wilson’s mates, who had “put him to bed” on Sunday night, said he seemed fine and that taking the helicopter was “out of the ordinary” for him.

It appears Wilson then got up in the early hours of Monday and accessed a Robinson R44 from Nautilus’ hangar at Cairns Airport about 1.48am.

He then flew the chopper over the metropolitan area then out to sea before returning and crashing into the roof of the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel on Cairns Esplanade at 1.54am.

The ATSB said the helicopter, which was flown for just four to five minutes, was destroyed by the impact and subsequent fire.

Wilson, the sole occupant of the helicopter, was killed.

It had been raining at the time and visibility was poor.

On Monday, Nautilus chief executive Aaron Finn said all of Nautilus Aviation’s pilots were “safe and accounted for” but was unable to rule out if another employee of the company was responsible.

He said the flight was “unplanned and unauthorised” but that there had been no forced entry to the hangar.

ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said the crash could have been deadlier given the rotor blades of the helicopter smacked into the hotel rooms, one of which had an elderly couple asleep inside.

The couple, whose room was directly below the point of impact, were released from Cairns base hospital on Monday after undergoing treatment for shock and smoke inhalation.

The hotel was nearly full, with almost 400 guests evacuated, and many people were still walking around Cairns at 1am.

Mr Mitchell said the investigation would particularly focus on the final impact and whether something other than individual fault was to blame.

“Flying a helicopter, getting it up off the ground isn’t something that anyone could do,” Mr Mitchell said.

“You do need to have someone that has quite a detailed knowledge of the helicopter itself and how to fly it.”

Other lines of inquiry will include whether the helicopter was stolen, if the crash was deliberate and how fast the aircraft was flying.

The ATSB has appealed for anyone who may have witnessed or has photos or video footage of the aircraft during any phase of the flight (up to the impact), or heard the helicopter prior to the impact, to make contact via the witness form on its website at their earliest opportunity

Sydney tourist Veronica Knight witnessed the helicopter flying around Cairns, describing the aircraft as travelling at a very fast speed.

“It was like an army helicopter, but faster. Like a warplane, like it was going to come in and bomb you,” she told AAP on Monday.