[Peetwo]

Not a shadow of proof to support this; but, there is a story floating about that the chopper was parked for forty minutes waiting a storm out; which seems like prudent airmanship, before departing behind.  It seems (although again from the fuel truck) that it was shortly after this the troubles started.   While it does not close the door on a ‘fool-hardy’ errand it does open the window of heart attack, critical part failure or backlash from the storm.  

Anyway – just saying character assassination may be considered as good sport in some circles, but wise folk will wait for more information before rushing to put the boot in.  Whilst I am curious about the motive for the media attack, I am much more interested in what really happened.

 Ol'Tom I believe that rumour would very much compare to the witness statement in the SMH article:

..A witness, Jim Bloomfield, said he saw the helicopter fly into a valley near his Hunter Valley home as a severe storm rolled in on Saturday evening. He said the helicopter landed but then took off again and looked in trouble...

  There was also this small snippet of video footage -  Helicopter footage before crash

Update: via Daily Telegraph

Helicopter crash: Experts collect the pieces of a tragic puzzle

November 13, 2015 12:00am

Richard Noone - The Daily Telegraph

THERE was no chance. One side of he helicopter was ripped open, a seat thrown 3m from the cabin.


The tail boom was snapped off and came to rest several metres away while a camping mattress was found in a tree 2m above the ground.

The Daily Telegraph was yesterday given exclusive access to the site of the helicopter crash which killed millionaire photographer Richard Green, his wife Carolyn and their filmmaker friend John Davis at the weekend. Investigators are gathering evidence to determine how the modified Eurocopter EC-135 came down.

These pictures reveal for the first time the extent of the damage, with debris spread over more than 30sqm — indicating the chopper essentially disintegrated after it clipped towering gum trees.

The pages of a flight manual strewn under some lantana flicker as a soft breeze blows through the site.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau­ senior aviation investigator Rob Chopin said it was like trying to piece together a three-dimensional puzzle: “It’s about going back to ­basics, keeping an open mind and going through the evidence.”

VIDEO: THE CHOPPER MOMENTS BEFORE IT CRASHED

NO SURVIVORS: HELICOPTER WRECKAGE FOUND

Senior Transport Safety Investigator in Charge, Rob Chopin, at the helicopter crash site in the Watagan State Forest / Picture: Peter Lorimer

Sadly the tragic scene is not unfamiliar to Mr Chopin, who also led the investigation when an ABC helicopter crashed while on assignment covering Lake Eyre in flood in ­August, 2011, killing reporter Paul Lockyer, cinematographer John Bean, and pilot Gary Ticehurst.
The findings from that investigation led to a tightening of rules for flying at night after the crash was put down to “spatial disorientation” — flying blind the pilot simply couldn’t see where he was going and ended up in a fatal tail spin from which he could not recover. “That was a very sad situation,” Mr Chopin said.

The mangled cabin of the chopper / Picture: Peter Lorimer

The veteran investigator said it was still too early to rule anything “in or out” in this latest crash, despite reports on piloting web forums claiming the 74-year-old photographer had landed to avoid bad weather before resuming the two-hour flight from a mining protest at Breeza south west of Tamworth to the couple’s Terrey Hills home on Saturday.

“Information and footage, already shown to police, suggests that the helicopter landed about 6km from the crash site, was on the ground for 40 minutes or so, and then took off again heading east in bad weather,” someone posted on the Professional Pilots Rumour Network.

Mr Chopin, however, said weather was just one piece of a much larger puzzle that would be examined over the coming weeks.


A preliminary report is expected in about 30 days.

“We don’t want a story, we don’t mind if we can’t find out what happened — obviously we’d like to — but if we can’t we’ll say that. It’s all about improving aircraft ­safety,” he said.

One of the helicopter seats was thrown from the cabin / Picture: Peter LorimerThe chopper came crashing down through tall timber in the Watagan State Forest / Picture: Peter Lorimer

MTF..P2