No daily drug tests for pilots before Sea World crash

Attention has turned to a helicopter operator’s drug testing regime after a pilot killed in a horror mid-air crash tested positive for cocaine.

Sea World Helicopters pilot Ashley Jenkinson, 40, was among four people killed when two pleasure planes collided outside the Gold Coast theme park on January 2, 2023.

Mr Jenkinson tested positive for cocaine metabolites at autopsy following what is considered one of Australia’s worst air disasters.

Almost three years after the Sea World tragedy, an investigation into the crash was told the helicopter operator’s pilots were not subjected to daily drug tests.

Sea World Helicopters has signed a 10-year agreement to operate pleasure flights after taking over from Village Roadshow Theme Parks on the Gold Coast in 2019.

Village operations head Llewella McNabb told the inquiry in Brisbane that the helicopter company maintained its policy of having pilots tested for alcohol by Sea World staff before each shift.

But coroner Carol Lee was told there was no drug testing before each shift.

“Sea World helicopter pilots can be drug tested on suspicion, but are pilots not tested on this basis even though they are engaging in activities that are considered high risk?” The lawyer assisting Ian Harvey said:

Ms McNabb said pilots were subjected to random and drug testing by Village nurses before their first day on the job.

“It takes time. Drug testing takes longer,” he said.

“Drug testing can take up to 20 minutes. For saliva swab tests, you need to wait enough time. It depends on the person.”

Ms. McNabb said she did not write the policy and did not know whether testing time was the reason for the lack of daily drug screening.

Experts will testify next week about whether Mr Jenkinson suffered some degree of medical, cognitive or psychological harm from the effects of cocaine use.

Over the next two weeks, the inquest will examine 11 critical issues surrounding the crash, which also killed British newlyweds Ronald and Diane Hughes, aged 65 and 67, and Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros, 36.

An earlier investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found Mr Jenkinson was “unlikely to have been directly affected by drugs at the time of the crash”.

The Village subjected Mr Jenkinson to a random drug test in August 2022, Ms Lee heard.

Jackson Simm, a former pilot of Sea World Helicopters, stated that he did not know of any drug problems among pilots at the theme park’s helipad.

“Have you ever socialized with Ashley Jenkinson?” Mr. Harvey said.

“No,” said Mr. Simm.

Mr Simm said the Gold Coast expanses of water around Sea World were “an extremely busy airspace”, including people in parachutes towed behind motorboats.

“I have experience with a half-dozen operators around the country and have found Sea World’s hiring process to be thorough and thorough,” he said.

Mr Jenkinson’s plane crashed about 40 meters before crashing into the beach following a mid-air collision.

Michael James, the pilot of the second helicopter, also managed to make an emergency landing on the same beach.

Mr. James died in 2024 from a medical condition unrelated to the accident.