Millionaire businessman-turned-landscape photographer Richard Green, 74, his graphic artist wife Carolyn, 71, and their friend and filmmaker John Davis, 72, were killed on their way back to Mona Vale from an anti-mining festival in Breeza, south of Tamworth, on Saturday. 

The wreckage of Mr Green's modified EC135 helicopter was discovered on Monday night in rough, mountainous terrain in the Hunter Valley.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said three investigators will travel to the rugged crash site on Tuesday to search for clues as to how the helicopter crashed.

Mr Green, who sold his UK business in the 1980s and took an early retirement to travel Australia in his "flying campervan", had his helicopter licence suspended for six months in 2013 .

He had four incidents where he almost collided with other aircraft due to his unnecessary manoeuvres and one incident where he struck power lines 105 metres from the point of take off, causing the power line to tear off part of his helicopter.

He flew a further 200 metres across a gully before landing to inspect his helicopter and then taking off again, despite significant damage to his aircraft, according to the judgment in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Mr Green tried to appeal CASA's decision, saying that it was "made with malice" but he was unsuccessful.

Former independent MP Tony Windsor, who spoke at the Breeza event on Saturday and met all three crash victims, said the trio made a dramatic exit in the eye-catching helicopter, performing a circuit around the crowd before flying off.

Mr Davis, a former Greens candidate for Davidson, interviewed Mr Windsor on Saturday afternoon about political lobbying and mining, possibly for a documentary he was making with Mr and Mrs Green on the environmental damage wrought by coal mines.

"I had a long conversation with John and probably did the last interview John ever did," said Mr Windsor.

"He wanted to have a yarn on a few things, mostly the influence of paid lobbyists in Canberra, particularly in the mining sector. 

"He gave me his card and I'd put it on the beside table."

He said the three victims were keen environmentalists with a passion for showing the natural beauty of Australian landscapes.

They arrived at Breeza Station on Saturday morning, listened to about three hours worth of talks that afternoon and left around 3.30pm.

"About 800 people came to that event over the weekend, people travelled from near and far and the three of them really represented that body of people," Mr Windsor said.

"They had come to learn about this magnificent piece of country. They went out of their way to do that so it's tragic to think [the crash] happened on the back of their concerns for other people."

It's believed Mr Davis' wife, Felicity, filed a missing persons report on Monday morning when the trio had failed to return home to the northern beaches.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said there had been no mayday call or emergency distress beacon signal from the privately-owned helicopter.

Mr Green modified the helicopter into what he called his "flying campervan" for him and his wife to travel around Australia.

THE rescue operation to find three people on board a missing helicopter from Breeza took a tragic turn last night as searchers discovered the wreckage south of Cessnock.

The Eurocopter crashed in dense bushland in the Watagans National Park near Martinsville and claimed the lives of retired businessman turned landscape photographer Richard Green, his graphic artist wife  Carolyn Green, and travelling companion John Davis.

The trio were on board the privately owned EC135 helicopter that took off from Breeza on Saturday night and was headed for Mona Vale but never arrived.

An Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) spokesperson confirmed there were no survivors on board the helicopter which had crashed in “mountainous terrain, covered with dense vegetation”.

“One of 10 search helicopters located the wreckage, south of Cessnock, in the Watagans National Park,” the  spokesperson confirmed.

“A paramedic from another helicopter involved in the search was winched down and confirmed the wreckage was from the Eurocopter.”

Mr and Mrs Green and Mr Davis had been to the Harvest Festival to protest against the Shenhua Watermark coal mine and embarked on the two-hour journey home 

on Saturday evening, but the alarm was only raised yesterday just after 8am when the trio were reported missing to police by family members.

“There had been no mayday call or emergency distress beacon signal associated with the helicopter,” the AMSA spokesperson said.

Investigators have been told that the Greens were known to stop off at places during their helicopter trips to go bushwalking or exploring for days at a time. The helicopter also had some modifications to make it fly for longer.

A specialist search and rescue plane was  used by the  AMSA, along with 10 helicopters to search between the Hunter and Sydney, before the search was narrowed down to an area near the Olney State Forest within the Watagans National Park, west of Lake Macquarie yesterday.

“The search area was narrowed to the area where the wreckage was found following information provided by Airservices Australia,” a spokesperson said.

On his photography website, Mr Green said he and his wife use the helicopter as a “flying campervan” to “find, access and photographically record some of Australia’s most remote, wild and beautiful environments”.

Mr Green’s website also appears to have been updated on Monday.

In the “news” section, there is a post dated 9.11.2015 in which Richard writes about just returning from a month-long helicopter trip to the Simpson Desert, Kimberley, Pilbara, Nullarbor Plain, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Andrew Pursehouse, who owns the Breeza property where the Greens’ helicopter landed and took off from, said Mr Davis called ahead on Saturday morning to ask for the co-ordinates of the property.

Mr Pursehouse said they landed near a shed on Breeza Station just after 11am, stayed for some speeches and left on Saturday evening.

Before they left, the Greens asked a local man for directions to the Whitehaven mine at Werris Creek, about 50 kilometres from Breeza.

“There are some environment issues and they wanted to have a look at that, obviously,” he said.