The mobile phone footage makes for chilling viewing.
Inside one of the Sea World helicopters that collided over the Gold Coast, passenger Edward Swart is tapping the helicopter pilot’s shoulder trying to warn him of the impending disaster.
Swart was the first person onboard the helicopter, which was coming in to land, to notice the aircraft was on a disastrous collision course.
“You don’t know how to react in that situation. I just knew I had to warn him. But also, I think deep inside myself, I knew it was too late,” he said.
“He [the pilot of the other helicopter] came up with such a speed. From the point that I saw him on the pad, and the point that he took off, and he hit us, was so fast. It is just unbelievable.”
The other helicopter crashed to the ground almost immediately, instantly killing four people onboard: pilot Ash Jenkinson, along with three of his passengers: British tourists Diane and Ronald Hughes, and Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros.
The three survivors from Jenkinson’s helicopter – Tadros’ 10-year-old Nicholas Tadros, and Winnie de Silva, 33, and her son Leon, 9, from Geelong – are still in hospital with extensive injuries.
Swart, his wife Marle Swart, their friends Riaan and Elmarie Steenberg and their pilot Michael James are among the nine survivors of the January 2 midair collision.
The Swarts and Steenbergs spent a number of days being treated at Robina Hospital, but have now returned to their Auckland homes, where they spoke for the first time about the ordeal with 60 Minutes.
“Every morning, I thank the Lord that we’re alive,” Edward Swart said.
The two couples had travelled to Australia together on Boxing Day for a long-awaited holiday, planning on spending two weeks touring Queensland.
Edward (far back) and Marle Swart with Elmarie and Riaan Steenberg (front right) before the Sea World helicopter tragedy on the Gold Coast.
Sea World was not on their itinerary, nor was a helicopter tour, but a spur of the moment decision saw them sign up for a five-minute joy flight above the theme park.
The conditions were perfect for flying – crystal clear skies afforded the pilots and passengers uninterrupted views of the Gold Coast.
But as their helicopter was coming in to land, another helicopter took off from theme park.
After impact, their pilot wrestled to regain control of his aircraft.
“We were just hanging midair with the helicopter console in shreds,” Swart said. “I saw the blood as we were coming down … and I think we probably spun twice.”
Despite the front of his helicopter being obliterated, James managed to steer away from the theme park and land on a nearby sandbank. For Elmarie Steenberg, that makes him a hero.
“I think so. I think he really knew what he was doing,” she said.
Nevertheless, the four friends are keen for investigators to get to the bottom of how the disaster occurred, find out what mistakes were made and by whom.
“I don’t know what happened, what went wrong. We will know that with the investigation. But I also want that closure for me. I’m a very principled person. So, for me, it’s quite odd that people died. If they made a mistake, then they have to get their things right [so it doesn’t] happen again,” Elmarie said.
Elmarie Steenberg’s bloodied, shrapnel-covered legs after the helicopter crash.
Elmarie, 42, required surgery to help remove thousands of fragments of shattered glass and carbon fibre that lodged in her body.
More than a month after the incident, she continues to find pieces of debris underneath her skin that require removal by nurses.
“It’s a challenge because you just think that your legs are getting better. And then you have to [remove] more,” she said. “That makes you feel sad. Because for me, I just want to get that stuff out of my body because it reminds you of the day.”
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau and Queensland police are investigating how two helicopters from the same company managed to collide on a perfectly clear day.
New Zealand friends Elmarie Steenberg (left) and Marle Swart in the aftermath of the Sea World helicopter crash.
The operator, Sea World Helicopters – a separate company from the theme park – has suspended flights while the investigations take place.
Former Civilian Aviation Safety Authority manager Matt McKay believes it’s unlikely anyone will be singled out for blame, suggesting that in cases like this, there are often multiple failures that lead to such a crash.
“It may satisfy the public or the media perhaps to have someone to be accountable and a single point that we can go to where we can say, ‘This is what happened’,” McKay said.
“But I’m almost certain there will be multiple outcomes, and it won’t involve people doing nefarious acts. It will involve acts of fate where redundancies broke down when they shouldn’t have. And they haven’t in the past, but they did on this occasion.”
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