Helicopter crashes just minutes after take off at Melbourne Airport as person rushed to hospital

A helicopter has crashed just minutes after taking off with one person rushed to hospital.

Photographs from the scene show the mangled wreck of the aircraft. The helicopter, carrying two people, at Moorabbin Airport in , at about 2.30pm local time (5.30am BST). Firefighters said the crashed next to a runway and began leaking fuel, leading them to quickly douse the wreckage with foam to prevent it from setting fire. One of the rotor blades of the aircraft appeared to be crumpled in aftermath, and the tail section broken off. A statement from Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) said: "Unable to stop the leak, FRV crews laid a blanket of firefighting foam over the spilt fuel and aircraft and isolated power sources to the helicopter to ensure the fuel did not ignite."

The pilot and passenger were treated by ambulance crews for minor injuries, with one person taken to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne.

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Emergency services remained on site into the evening as investigators arrived at the scene.

Victoria Police confirmed that no-one had been killed in the crash.

A statement from the force said: "Emergency services were called to an airport in Moorabbin about 2.30pm on 17 April after reports of a helicopter crash.

"Two people were on the craft at the time and one person suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Work Safe and ATSB will be notified of the incident."

Flight Radar 24 data showed that the helicopter had only taken off a few minutes earlier.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it had been informed of a crash involving an R44 helicopter during training operations at Moorabbin Airport and would be deciding whether to launch an investigation.

It is the latest helicopter crash to take place in , where investigations continue to this day into the deadly 2023 Sea World crash.

Four people were killed when an aircraft came down near the theme park in Brisbane, including two British tourists, Ronald and Diane Hughes.

Last August, two hotel guests were briefly hospitalised for smoke inhalation and 400 people had to evacuated from a luxury hotel in Queensland after a drunk pilot crashed his helicopter onto the roof.

The pilot, Blake Wilson, a 23-year-old New Zealand citizen, died from his injuries.

He had been employed by the helicopter’s operator Nautilus Aviation since April 2024.

The four-minute flight had not been authorised and there were no airworthiness factors that likely contributed to the crash, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a later report.

He had Australian and New Zealand commercial pilot licenses and had flown R44 helicopters before. But he was employed by Nautilus as a ground handler and did not have qualifications to fly at night, the report said.

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