On 11 October 2005 at about 1815 Eastern Standard Time, a Kawasaki Heavy Industries BK 117 B-2 helicopter, registered VH-BKS, became airborne at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital on a night Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight to Maroochydore, Qld. On board the helicopter were the pilot, a paramedic and a crewman. The pilot had earlier departed Hervey Bay on a day VFR medical flight, arriving at the hospital at 1748 that afternoon. The incident flight was to reposition the helicopter at the operator's Maroochydore base location.
At about 1823, the pilot was advised by the Brisbane Approach North controller that the weather at Maroochydore included broken cloud, with a cloud base of 1,000 ft above ground level (AGL). In addition, the pilot reported that he observed a solid layer of cloud beneath and in front of the helicopter along the intended route.
The pilot's decision to continue the flight to Maroochydore committed the pilot to a night VFR flight above more than scattered cloud. The pilot could not assure himself of maintaining Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) during the remainder of the flight, with the result that the night VFR flight above more than scattered cloud was not possible.
On arrival at Maroochydore, the cloud base was such that the pilot was restricted to a recovery to land via an instrument approach, in conditions in which he was not qualified to operate, and for which the helicopter was not single-pilot instrument flight rules-equipped.
The report also details extensive safety action undertaken by the operator, the Queensland Department of Emergency Services, Airservices Australia and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.