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As the excitement of a Sea World helicopter ride turned to shock and dread in a matter of seconds, Neil De Silva was convinced his wife and stepson were dead.
The helicopter Neil's wife, Winnie, and her nine-year-old son, Leon, were riding in had just lifted off when it collided with another chopper, snapping off its rotor blade and plummeting from the air yesterday afternoon at the Gold Coast Broadwater.
Pilot Ash Jenkinson, 40; British nationals Ron and Diane Hughes, 65 and 57; and Sydney mum Vanessa Tadros, 36; died at the scene.
READ MORE: Sydney mother named as Sea World helicopter collision victim
But Winnie, Leon and Tadros's son Nicholas made it out alive.
The 52-year-old Queensland pilot of the other helicopter managed to land safely on the sandbar and all six passengers onboard escaped major injury.
"It was like an out of body experience. I just couldn't believe it," Neil said.
"They take off and, extremely excited to be on the helicopter and all that, doing the joy ride.
"And I was waving to Winnie and then the helicopter had travelled about 200 metres and then I see, half of the tail section gets smashed off and the helicopter plummets to the ground when it gets hit by the other one.
"I actually thought everybody would die. I couldn't imagine anyone surviving that."
READ MORE: Rotor blade on crashed helicopter torn off in Gold Coast collision
Instead, the Geelong West mother and son were recovering in separate Queensland hospitals; Winnie was critical but stable and Leon was stable this morning.
Neil said Winnie had multiple broken bones, internal issues and was "fairly beaten up" but "keeping positive".
Leon remained unconscious as doctors monitored his brain trauma.
"Hopefully tomorrow or the next day they'll try and wake him up, if all the numbers are okay and yeah, we're hoping then that he makes a full recovery," Neil said.
READ MORE: Deadly Gold Coast chopper crash brought parkland to standstill, witness says
Holiday excitement had been high before the crash but it was the chance to show Leon Sea World's dolphins Winnie had been really excited for.
The tragic helicopter trip was simply a "spur of the moment" decision, Neil said. They'd almost bought a joy flight back home in Geelong six weeks ago but decided it was too expensive.
This time, they were on holiday, and decided to splash out.
"No one knew anything for, it seemed an eternity, probably an hour and a half or something like that," Neil said of the agonising moments after the crash.
READ MORE: Race against the tide to retrieve chopper wreckage after deadly Gold Coast crash
"Then he [a police officer] came up to me and said they both suffered very serious accident but they were both alive.
"It was just amazing, I was praying like no tomorrow."
Police and air crash experts are still trying to piece together what happened in what could turn out to be a lengthy investigation.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, who hasn't ruled out potential criminal charges, this morning said inquiries could stretch on for days or even weeks.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has set a preliminary timeline of the third quarter of this year to finish its investigation into a crash its boss believes could easily have been much worse.
"Whilst it has been very tragic that four people have lost their lives and many families are mourning this morning, we could have had a far worse situation here," ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said.
"And the fact that that one helicopter managed to land has been quite remarkable."
Source: 9News
