Flight tracking footage reveals Blake Wilson’s erratic flight path around Cairns Esplanade before fatal crash

Real-time tracking of Blake Wilson’s fatal chopper flight on Monday morning shows the young pilot possibly flew a Robinson R44 as low as 62 feet above Cairns Esplanade before crashing into a hotel.

Exclusively obtained flight-tracking data from government-owned WebTrak shows the helicopter taking off from Cairns Airport at 1.47.36am.

The helicopter was then erratically flown up and down Cairns Esplanade and in loops, at wildly varying altitudes, before stopping at 1.52.07am in a position consistent with the location of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel where it crashed.

The altitude tracker — if accurate — indicates that the aircraft, registered VH-ERH, oscillated between heights of 62 feet and 440 feet during the four-and-a-half minute flight, before stopping at an altitude of 125 feet when it slammed into the hotel roof.

Wilson, 23, was killed and the helicopter — owned by his employer Nautilus Aviation — was destroyed by impact forces and a fire.

Cairns Esplanade is a strict “no-fly zone” and CASA regulations stipulate that helicopters must be operated at altitudes of at least 1000 feet above ground level for built-up areas and 500 feet above ground level everywhere else.

WebTrak allows you to see where aircraft fly and explore historical trends and patterns. The database uses information from air traffic control secondary surveillance radars to display aircraft movements within 80 kilometres of the airport and up to 30,000 feet above mean sea level.

WebTrak says its height information is derived from changes in air pressure recorded by aircraft in flight.

“This is corrected for pressure variations at the ground during the flight,” it states. “The margin of error using this method is 125 feet—so that at any one point, the aircraft may have been 125 ft higher or lower than the altitude shown on WebTrak.”

AirServices Australia, which runs WebTrak, appeared to have removed the flight path data for VH-ERH within hours of the tragic incident.

“The incident is currently under investigation by relevant state and federal government agencies,” a spokesperson said.

“AirServices will support these investigations and out of respect for that process does not intend to make any comments or statement at this time.”

Queensland Police, which is investigating the incident, declined to comment while the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it did not ask for the WebTrak plot to be taken down.

Meanwhile, Wilson’s family, friends and colleagues are struggling to fathom why he stole the helicopter from his employer’s hangar in the early hours of Monday morning after a night out drinking.

Nautilus chief executive Aaron Finn expressed bafflement at what motivated his “model employee” to go to the airport at about 1am and take the helicopter.

Mr Finn also revealed that Wilson was named “employee of the month” at Nautilus Aviation in the days before the incident.

He told media that the young ground crewman was a “great employee” who was excited about his future.

“We are all devastated,” he said.

Wilson, a former tour guide in Queenstown, had obtained his commercial pilot licence through Christchurch Helicopters in September 2022.

At the time, he had shared his pride in obtaining his commercial pilot licence on social media.

“Big thanks to Christchurch Helicopters for giving me the opportunity and tools to launch into the start of my career,” he posted on Instagram.

“Also my friends, family, and others who have supported me and helped me fulfil this dream. It’s the closure of the first chapter in this adventure, and I look forward to many more.”

Christchurch Helicopters this week said “Blake was well-liked by staff and his classmates”.

When he moved to Queensland this year, Wilson said he was “excited to see what this adventure brings”.

His final post on May 3 featured a photo of a Cairns waterfall captioned: “Gotta go to the places that the crocs can’t get ya. Chasing Waterfalls definitely isn’t a bad way to spend days off.”

Wilson, from Palmerston North in NZ, started working for Nautilus after moving to Australia in March and had been employed by Nautilus in a ground crew position for about four months prior to his death.

“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,” the company said.

There had been an informal work gathering of some Nautilus Aviation employees, including off-duty pilots, on Sunday night to farewell Wilson who was relocating to the company’s Horn Island air base.

“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,” the company said.

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

Nautilus has since said the social gathering had ended at about 8.30pm on Sunday but Wilson had stayed out as he was not working the next day.

At about 1pm, he accessed the Nautilus hangar at Cairns Airport using a pin code shared among staff.

The keys were already in the helicopter, which was standard practice among operators, said Mr Finn.

About 45 minutes later he wheeled VH-ERH out onto the tarmac.

He then flew the chopper over the metropolitan area and then out to sea before returning and crashing into the roof of the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel less than five minutes later.

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

Witnesses described seeing the helicopter flying “really low” without lights before hearing a loud bang that looked and sounded like a bomb going off.

Nautilus Aviation – known for tours and private charters, and owned by North Queensland billionaire Chris Morris – was quickly notified of the incident and scrambled to account for all of its employees.

The 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.

ATSB transport safety investigators completed their evidence collection activities in Cairns on Wednesday.

They have examined the accident site and the helicopter wreckage; retrieved helicopter instrumentation for the download of recorded data at the ATSB’s Canberra facilities; interviewed the operator and witnesses; and collected CCTV footage and air traffic control surveillance information.

The ATSB conducts ‘no blame’ transport safety investigations to uncover and share safety concerns and lessons, and not for the purposes of taking administrative, regulatory or criminal action.

“As the flight was undertaken by a pilot who the operator has stated was not authorised to fly the helicopter, the ATSB may elect to discontinue the investigation should we determine there are unlikely to be broader safety lessons to be shared,” it said on Wednesday.

“Based on the evidence gathered to date, the ATSB has assessed that other safety lessons may emerge from this accident.

“As such, the ATSB currently plans to continue the investigation through to the publication of a preliminary report in 6-8 weeks’ time, at which point we will provide a further update on the course of the investigation.”

The preliminary report will detail the accident flight’s sequence of events and evidence gathered by the ATSB.