The view looking toward Mount Disappointment around the time of the crash.
The pilot — with no instrument flight experience and flying an Airbus Helicopters EC130 that was not equipped for instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) — began a U-turn to avoid clouds over Australia’s Mount Disappointment. The helicopter entered the clouds and struck the mountain, killing the pilot and all four passengers. The helicopter was destroyed.
In its final report on the March 31, 2022, accident, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) cited 10 contributing factors, including: that the pilot of the accident helicopter, along with the pilot of a second EC130 in the lead, selected a route from Melbourne, Victoria, to Ulupna that, according to the weather forecast, was unsuitable; that the pilot “was not trained to fly the helicopter by sole reference to the instruments and almost certainly did not have any instrument flying experience”; that the helicopter …
