History's A Disaster

The SeaWorld Gold Coast Mid-Air Collision

• Andrew

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Two scenic helicopters crossed paths over the Gold Coast and collided in clear daylight, exposing weak links in see-and-avoid, radio reliability, and ground procedures. We trace the timeline, the emergency response, and the investigation, then lay out practical fixes for safer sightseeing flights.

• operator expansion without matched safety assessment
• aircraft, pilot backgrounds, and flight setup
• timeline from liftoff to collision over the sandbar
• passenger alerts, impact mechanics, survivability
• mass-casualty response and scene control
• ATSB methods: video, wreckage mapping, interviews
• see-and-avoid limits under VFR in busy corridors
• faulty antenna, missed calls, ground miscommunication
• ship traffic as an attention splitter on approach
• regulatory reviews, legal actions, and inquest status
• concrete mitigations for comms, patterns, and training



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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/


SPEAKER_00:

Alright, I admit it, I love aquariums. The Shed Aquarium in Chicago, personal favorite of mine. Followed closely by SeaWorld. Because you know you got penguins and sharks and well fish I guess. Look, we all know penguins are the best. Anything after that is just filler. And the best way to top off a day seeing penguins is a helicopter ride. Unless, of course, that helicopter collides with another one mid-air. Which is what happened January 2nd, 2023 at SeaWorld in Queensland, Australia. So, what happened? I'm Andrew, and this is History's A Disaster. Tonight we're going down under for mid-air collision at SeaWorld in Australia. Which I didn't even know there was a SeaWorld in Australia. Granted, they are not connected to SeaWorld USA. They are two totally separate companies. And speaking of separate companies, SeaWorld Helicopters. The owner and operators of the helicopters involved in this episode are also not connected in any way to any of the SeaWorlds. And that's not confusing at all. Three SeaWorlds, none of them connected in any way, shape, or form. SeaWorld Helicopters just operates out of the lot next to the SeaWorld theme park. And I'm gonna assume are just trying to cash in on the name. And tonight's episode is brought to you by the Penguin Trading Consortium. Kids driving you crazy? Then bring them on down to the Penguin Trading Consortium and trade them in for a penguin. We've got all kinds of penguins to choose from. From rock hoppers and macaron penguins all the way up to King and Emperor penguins. We've got all the penguins you could possibly want to trade your children for. Time to relax after the stress of dealing with Christmas and family and all the crap that brings with it. And where better to enjoy some summer sun than Australia's Gold Coast? With its picturesque beaches, theme parks, and being a large tourist destination, there is definitely not a lack of things to do. Like helicopter rides. And I will almost never not recommend flying in a helicopter. They're so much fun and so unforgettable. Now some of the helicopter flights in the Gold Coast are operated by SeaWorld Helicopters, which is conveniently located next to, you guessed it, SeaWorld. They had been a growing attraction for years, giving visitors a bird's eye perspective of the Gold Coast famous beaches, the glittering skyline of summer's paradise, and the waterways that wound through the region. The flights are normally around 5 minutes long, but they are an unforgettable experience. Especially if you traveled from around the world to experience Australia's famous sunshine and surf culture. With the success of the helicopter flights, SeaWorld Helicopter had been expanding. They had recently added new, larger Eurocopter EC-130B4s to their growing helicopter fleet. With more flights and new helicopters, they needed new facilities, so they upgraded to a new hangar and offices. They also added in a new helipad they called the park pad. The only thing they did not add was improvements to their safety. They failed to look into how these new changes could possibly affect flight safety. Which brings us to the two helicopters involved. The first helicopter, with the registration VHXH9, was piloted by 40-year-old Michael James, an experienced pilot who had logged just over 3,000 flight hours over his career, and was a licensed commercial pilot in Australia since 2012. And on top of being a pilot for SeaWorld helicopters, he was also their safety manager and a drug and alcohol management plan supervisor, which is just a tiny bit ironic. He would later be found to have small trace amounts of cocaine in his system after the accident. Now, in all fairness, there was not enough to affect his performance as a pilot, but it does tend to be frowned upon for pilots to have drugs in their system. Especially if you're the drug and alcohol management plan supervisor. Chopper XH9 was carrying 5 passengers, including Jesse Maya, who would later testify during the ongoing inquest. The second helicopter, registered as VHXKQ, was being piloted by Ashley Jenkinson, a 40-year-old chief pilot with SeaWorld Helicopters, who was highly regarded within the company and the broader aviation community. Jenkinson had held a commercial pilot's license since 2007 and an air transport license since 2013. He had been working with SeaWorld Helicopters since 2019. On his chopper XKQ, he was carrying six passengers, Winnie da Silva and her son, Vanessa Tedros and her son Nicholas, and newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes from the UK. On January 2nd, 2023, SeaWorld Helicopters was conducting a series of scenic flights in these two Eurocopter EC-130s. Being in uncontrolled airspace, the flights were performed under the visual flight rules from its base at SeaWorld on the Gold Coast. The choppers were operating from two different helipads that were about 700 feet apart. XH9, piloted by James, was operating from Helopad 3 at the Operators Heliport, and XKQ, piloted by Jenkinson, was flying from the park pad inside SeaWorld. Both pilots had flights in the morning, then after lunch break, commenced another series of flights. The first flight after lunch for James was a 10-minute scenic flight. Around the same time, Jenkinson also conducted a 10-minute flight, landing about 5 minutes behind James. The new passengers boarding both helicopters had watched a safety briefing video, either at the heliport or in a briefing room near the park pad. They were then fitted with a pouch style constant wear life jacket by ground crew and escorted to the helicopters. At 1.51, James's Chopper departed Helipad 3 from the heliport for a 5-minute scenic flight with five passengers on board. He reported making a taxi call prior to liftoff before departing to the southwest, making a quick left turn to the east over the SeaWorld grass, and a minute later made a departure call. They then entered the coastal lane for a clear view north and south before turning left to fly north at 500 feet over the water. As they flew off, ground crew began loading passengers into XKQ. Around the time Jenkinson was loading front seat passengers, James was recorded making an inbound radio call from Porcus Point. Shortly after this call that Jenkinson never heard, the loading of passengers was completed. The ground crew reported that they checked the doors and that they were closed and ensured the surrounding area was free from water and aircraft. At that time, James was just under a mile to the north of their location. The ground crew signaled to Jenkinson that it was just a five-minute tour and communicated with a thumbs up that the chopper was ready for departure. Jenkinson acknowledged with a thumbs up. The ground crew then left the helipad and began preparing the next flight. Jenkinson remained on the pad for 23 seconds before departing. In XH9, the track southbound along the broadwater provided a clear view of the SeaWorld helipads. James saw while flying over the broadwater the passengers being loaded into the other chopper and the doors being closed. James recalled that their assessment at the time was that they would be clear of XKQ and that it would pass behind them. Therefore, they were not required to make any further radio calls and elected not to. As James got closer, Jenkinson took off. There were two ships traveling south on the Broadwater between the parkpad and the heliport, which Jenkinson passed to the outside of while climbing towards the sandbar southwest of the helipad. Witnesses on board the southernmost ship recalled seeing Jenkinson looking at them as he climbed from the park pad. The ship was also crossing James's intended flight path. James adjusted their path to pass behind the vessel on their approach to the helipad. James was keeping a close eye on the ship as he approached. As they got closer, a passenger on board XH-9 saw the other chopper approaching and attempted to verbally alert James. As the other chopper got closer, the highly agitated passenger started tapping James on the shoulder to get his attention. As Jenkinson climbed, James was descending and both helicopters collided 130 feet above the ground. The main rotor, engine, and tail separated from XKQ, leaving Jenkinson unable to control the chopper, and with no chance to save it, it fell hard onto the sandbar below. James's chopper was substantially damaged from the contact. The windscreens and composite structure in the front of XH9 was shattered as the main rotor blades of XKQ passed through the cabin. James and his passengers were immediately showered with fragments of glass and metal. James's sunglasses managed to save his eyes from the incoming fragments. All of the flight instruments were missing or destroyed, the rotor system was damaged, and the engine RPM started to decay. Despite the damage done to his craft, James managed to guide the crippled helicopter towards a waiting sandbank. It was a desperate maneuver, an attempt to avoid crashing into the crowded theme park grounds directly below his chopper, or into the water where swimmers and boats gathered. The helicopter hit the ground hard, the impact brutal despite James' best efforts. The chopper came to rest on its side in the sandy area with its rotor blade shattered, its fuselage damaged but largely intact. While everyone would be injured in the crash, only three would be considered critical, but everyone would walk away. Jenkinson and his passengers on XKQ would not be so lucky. Jenkinson and three passengers were fatally injured, the other three seriously injured. XKQ was completely destroyed. The collision happened in full view of hundreds of people. Beachgoers, tourists at SeaWorld, and people on boats in the nearby water watched in horror as the two helicopters collided and fell from the sky. The sound of the impact, the scream of metal on metal, the sudden change of rotor noise, and then the sickening crunch of impact would haunt witnesses for years to come. Emergency calls flooded into 000 within seconds. People ran toward the crash site even as others pulled out phones to call for help or film the unfolding tragedy. The Gold Coast, despite being a tourist destination, had robust emergency services, and first responders began mobilizing immediately. The Gold Coast Emergency Services responded quickly. Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics arrived within minutes, joined by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services personnel, Queensland Police, and a small army of other first responders. The scene was a nightmare. Two helicopter crash sites, multiple critically injured patients, and hundreds of shock witnesses. And there was a need to secure the area and preserve evidence while simultaneously providing urgent medical care. Paramedics performed triage on the sandbank, working to stabilize the most critically injured survivors before transporting them to Gold Coast University Hospital. The hospital's trauma team activated their mass casualty protocols, preparing to receive multiple critically injured patients simultaneously. Additional medical helicopters were dispatched also to provide rapid transport, and I can only wonder how many of them thought, oh fuck no, not another damn helicopter ride. The crash site quickly transformed into a carefully controlled investigation scene. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the agency responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents, was notified immediately. Investigators would need to examine the wreckage, interview survivors and witnesses, analyze any recorded data, and piece together exactly what had happened in those critical seconds. It would be a matter of just a couple hours before ATSB investigators descended on the Gold Coast. And this investigation would be one of the most scrutinized in Australian aviation history, not only because of the loss of life, but because it had occurred in broad daylight, in perfect weather conditions, at a well-established helicopter operation with experienced pilots flying reliable aircraft. The first thing that had to be done was securing and documenting the crash site, and it had to be done quickly. They were racing against the incoming high tide that would further submerge the wreckage and destroy valuable evidence. Every piece of wreckage, every scratch and dent potentially told part of the story, and they needed to preserve all of it. Investigators photographed and measured the wreckage positions, mapped debris fields, and began the painstaking process of examining the helicopter remains. One of the best pieces of evidence was all the video footage. Since it had occurred in a public area, with everyone having a smartphone, multiple people had captured video of the crash. And while it can be hard to watch, and yes, a lot of these videos are floating around the internet, I watched quite a few of them on YouTube. This footage provided investigators with important information about the helicopter's positions, altitudes, flight paths, and the exact sequence of the collision, all from multiple angles. So they could reconstruct what had happened with a that would have not been possible in an earlier era. The helicopters themselves yielded important information. Neither aircraft had cockpit voice recorders or flight data recorders, you know, what they normally call black boxes. They weren't required for helicopters engaged in this type of flying. However, modern helicopters carried various systems that record certain operational parameters, and the investigators worked to extract whatever data they could. They also began interviewing witnesses immediately. They interviewed everyone. Witnesses on the ground, passengers who survived, ground crew at the helipad, other pilots operating in the area, and SeaWorld Helicopter's management all provided statements, each adding their own little piece to the puzzle. The preliminary findings of the investigation suggested that the collision was the result of what they call a sea and avoid failure. Both helicopters had been operating in accordance with their company's procedures, but the specific circumstances he had created a situation where the ascending helicopter was in a position that made it difficult for the descending pilot to see. From Michael James's point of view, in the descending helicopter, his attention would have been mainly focused on the landing area directly below and ahead of him. He was conducting a standard approach, and the helicopter ascending from the helipad would have been rising into his field of view from below, an area that is naturally more difficult to monitor when a pilot is focused on landing. From Ashley Jenkinson's perspective, in the ascending helicopter, it was just as complex, just slightly different. During takeoff, he would have had to monitor his instruments to ensure the helicopter is climbing normally, along with scanning for other traffic and begin the transition from hover to forward flight. The other chopper descending from above might have been in his field of view, but may have been obscured by the helicopter structure, or simply not where he expected another aircraft to be, especially when he was told that there was no one else in the area. The video evidence they had gathered suggested that the helicopter's paths converged at almost the worst possible angle in timing. Neither pilot may have had a clear, unobstructed view of the other aircraft until it was too late to take evasive action. In the world of aviation, such scenarios are sometimes described as being set up to fail. Situations where normal procedures and normal human capabilities are insufficient to prevent disaster. Now, the next big question is, why didn't they know the other helicopter was in the area? I can see fields of visions being obscured for whatever reason, but knowing there was another chopper nearby should have warranted extra vigilance in flight. On his landing approach, James saw the other helicopter on the landing pad but did not view it as a threat. At the same time, Jenkinson was on the ground getting his passengers and chopper prepped for takeoff and did not hear the inbound radio call from James. He was then told by a ground crew member that the airspace around him was clear, something that would not be true by the time he took off. James up in the air had been waiting to hear a taxiing call, which would have meant that Jenkinson's chopper was taking off. However, Jenkinson's chopper had a fucked up antenna that seriously limited its range. So when he made his taxiing call, it never reached James Chopper, which meant neither pilot knew the other was there due to a radio failure. There was also the matter of the ship traveling through the area. Both pilots would have had to keep an eye on the ship to avoid it. The ship being there would also have further divided their attention away. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Australia's aviation regulator, immediately conducted reviews of helicopter scenic flight operations nationwide. They examined processes at other busy heliport locations, looking for similar situations where multiple helicopters operated in close proximity without ground-based air traffic control. SeaWorld Helicopters immediately suspended operations following the crash. The company, which had operated for decades without a fatal accident, was under severe scrutiny. Their safety procedures, maintenance records, pilot training, and operational oversight all came under examination. In the months following the crash, legal proceedings began. Families of the victims sought answers and accountability. Lawsuits were filed, alleging negligence in the operation of the helicopters and inadequacy of safety procedures. SeaWorld Helicopter faces potential criminal charges pending the outcome of the investigation. The Coronial Inquest, a legal process in Australia where a coroner investigates sudden or unexplained deaths, would examine the circumstances in detail. Coroners have the power to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future, and their findings carry significant weight in driving regulatory and industry changes. And currently there is an inquest ongoing and expected to take up to two weeks with over 30 witnesses. And that was the 2023 SeaWorld Helicopters Mid-air Collision. Thanks for listening, and if you like the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on your app of choice. And you can reach out to the show at history as a disaster at gmail.com with questions, comments, or suggestions. As well as following the show on social media, like Facebook, Instagram, a few others, TikTok, YouTube, whatever, and share the episode. Your friends will love it. Take care of yourself out there. Go to the aquarium, see a penguin, pet the penguin. They like it when you pet the animals. Thanks and goodbye.