By Luke Voogt
A “frightening” helicopter crash at Lethbridge today ended in a “very lucky” escape for two men recovering in hospital.
Emergency services rushed to the crash site about 10am before dousing the smashed helicopter in foam to prevent it catching on fire.
Two men stumbled free of the wreckage, despite the impact destroying the tail shaft of the Robinson R44 and smashing its windows.
Lethbridge Airport operator Gary Baum drove to the crash after receiving an SES call and saw the two men, who he estimated were in their 30s or 40s.
“I wouldn’t like to imagine being in there. I can think of nothing more frightening,” he said.
“It was a very lucky escape when you look into the damage.”
One man was lying in the grass with back injuries while the other had a cut to the head, Mr Baum said.
An ambulance helicopter flew the man with lower back pain to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition, according to Ambulance Victoria.
Paramedics took the other man to Ballarat hospital in a stable condition.
The back of the helicopter broke up spreading debris over a 50m radius, and the crash site smelt strongly of fuel due to a leak, Mr Baum said.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority had begun investigating the crash which occurred on one of the airport’s two runways, 31km north-west of Geelong.
“I don’t know what’s happened – whether it’s pilot error or a mechanical fault,” Mr Baum said.
But the crash would have occurred during landing, he said.
“The helicopter would have been quite close to the ground when this happened.
“It still had a fair bit of forward momentum based on what I could see.
“It’s landed heavily on the bottom of the aircraft and then rolled to one side before skidding across the ground.”
The airport closed the runway for investigators to examine the crash site and to clean debris, Mr Baum said.
He said the owner of the helicopter had kept the four-seat aircraft “well-maintained”.
“They’re quite an expensive little item but this one will never fly again looking at it. It’s always a sad thing but luckily no one died.”
Mr Baum said he had not met the crash survivors before and declined to give the helicopter owner’s name
“I can’t give you his full name – I only know him as ‘Rob’,” he said.
