Outback helicopter firm grounded over 'serious and imminent risk to safety'

An outback Australian helicopter company has had its fleet grounded and its air operator's certificate suspended immediately over a "serious and imminent risk to safety".

Sky High Helicopters Pty Ltd, which trades as Fortescue Helicopters in Western Australia and Queensland, has been grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

In its findings published yesterday, CASA said the company had been operating with "a deliberately and systemically non-compliant safety culture".

Corporate documents show the chopper company was first registered in 2008, offering aerial mustering, charter flights and mining support from the Pilbara mining town of Newman.

It also has other bases in Perth, Broome and Far North Queensland.

Owned by WA cattle producer and pilot Weldon Percy, Fortescue Helicopters lists among its clients mining giants Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), Rio Tinto, Glencore and Hancock Prospecting.

"Safety, for our pilots and clients is our number one priority," the company's website states.

"We believe safety is a company culture, not just a practice."

Fortescue Helicopters is not affiliated with the similarly named FMG, although it lists the company founded by billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest as "an important client of ours".

CASA said in its findings the company had committed a series of serious and systemic intentional safety breaches, including that its pilots had been "directed not to accurately record the total time in service for aircraft operated by the company".

Other breaches detected by CASA included pilots being "directed not to record maintenance defects on aircraft maintenance releases" and operating "aircraft with outstanding maintenance requirements".

It also said personnel at the company were being ordered to perform unauthorised maintenance activities and had failed to comply with the company's operations manual.

CASA also said "pilots' flight and duty time limits are regularly and deliberately exceeded" by the company.

Mr Percy hung up when the ABC contacted him for comment.

Fortescue Helicopters was also separately contacted but has not responded. 

It is unclear how long the suspension will be in place.

Suspension follows safety crackdown pledge

The grounding of Sky High Helicopters comes a year after CASA's chief executive Pip Spence warned the watchdog would crack down on helicopter pilots who tried to "game the system" over safety regulations.

She made the comments in the aftermath of the month-long trial of celebrity crocodile wrangler and chopper pilot Matt Wright in the Northern Territory Supreme Court last year, in which he was sentenced to prison for five months.

Wright's trial for attempting to pervert the course of justice heard accounts of frequent under-reporting of helicopter flying hours within the northern Australian aviation sector, with pilots regularly disconnecting the devices used to record their hours.

Separate to his criminal trial, Wright's company, Helibrook, was grounded in late 2024 over numerous breaches, including failing to record accurate flight times, reckless operation of aircraft, and the falsification of maintenance records.