The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has commenced a transport safety investigation into an accident involving a Robinson R44 helicopter in the Cataract National Park near Tenterfield, NSW.
The helicopter, which was operating a private flight from the Gold Coast to Armidale, was reported missing on Friday night and was discovered by search and rescue on Saturday.
ATSB transport safety investigators from Canberra and Brisbane are deploying to the accident site, where they are expected to arrive on Sunday. Over coming days they will conduct a range of evidence-gathering activities including site survey, wreckage examination, and retrieval of relevant components for further examination and analysis at the ATSB’s Canberra technical facilities.
As well as on-site activities, investigators will also interview involved parties and any witnesses, obtain pilot and aircraft maintenance records, and collect any available recorded flight tracking data as well as weather information.
The ATSB asks anyone who witnessed the accident, including ear witness, or anyone with video footage of the aircraft at any stage of its flight, to make contact via the witness form on our website - atsb.gov.au/witness - at their earliest opportunity.
The ATSB anticipates publishing a preliminary report, detailing factual information about the circumstances of the accident, in about 8 weeks.
A final report detailing findings and the analysis to support those findings will be released at the conclusion of the investigation. However, if the investigation identifies a critical safety issue at any time the ATSB will immediately inform relevant stakeholders.