A 55-year-old female helicopter pilot has been injured after the unidentified rotary-wing flying machine she was flying crashed at Cuttaburra about 70km south of Cunnamulla in south west Queensland

It appears the helicopter may have been hovering above the ground just before control was lost - the pilot was the only person on board and understood to have suffered only minor injuries

CASA has extended the grounding of Tiger Airways by applying to the OZ Federal Court seeking Tiger to remain grounded up to August 1^st.




"Qantas shares have risen more than 9 per cent since CASA grounded Tiger and Virgin Australia stock ...has climbed 10.5 per cent"




Meanwhile the super fund for Airservices and CASA employees - AvSuper - has just started to struggle back from its 'falling returns' status

Australian Federation of Air Pilots industrial relations manager Lawrie Cox has defended the local Avalon based pilot who was at the controls of both incidents that grounded Tiger




"They (CASA) are claiming that it (the low-flying incidents) was the straw that broke the camel's back but both of the incidents have been investigated and part of the investigation process has also been about the safety management processes at Tiger"




"The two incidents in particular have been used as part of the excuse for the grounding - It's our view that the Tiger pilot group is very experienced ..and at no stage was there any risk of crash or hitting terrain or anything associated with that"