Crash claims the life of ‘kind’ pilot

A helicopter crash claimed the life of a 40-year-old pilot on a remote Kimberley station last week.

Angus Mundell and a friend, both believed to be from the Northern Territory, were flying helicopters back to Larrawa Station after a fishing trip and mustering work last Wednesday.

Mundell’s Robinson 22 hit a gorge and plunged into the Margaret River, 50-60km south of Louisa Downs, between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek.

The crash was believed by authorities to have occurred about 5pm on Wednesday, but was reported at 7.40pm.

Police confirmed the crashed helicopter was found last Thursday, submerged in two metres of water, and the site was guarded by officers overnight, until Water Police divers and Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators arrived on Friday.

They faced rough terrain to reach the gorge, which was inaccessible by road.

ATSB safety general manager Ian Sangston said the helicopter’s maintenance records, pilot logs and weather conditions would be checked by a pilot and a mechanical engineer to try to determine the cause of the crash.

“Particularly in gorges and hilly country, you can have local weather effects and turbulence,” he said.

Mr Sangston said Robinson 22 helicopters were robust and used widely for mustering.

Larrawa station manager Wendy Brockhurst said the two pilots had been at the station for two weeks to muster cattle on adjoining property Louisa Downs and were a few days from finishing the job.

Ms Brockhurst said Mundell had a great sense of humour and kind heart. “He was just a really nice person – always willing to offer a hand,” she said. “It’s wild and beautiful up here, but wild and beautiful and danger so often go hand-inhand.”

A helicopter crash claimed Brooking Springs pastoralist Jillian Jenyns about 18 months ago near Fitzroy Crossing as she returned from mustering cattle.