Airport scrutiny follows 'inside job' helicopter crash

It is too early to tell whether a far north Queensland airport needs to review security after a fatal chopper crash, the state's premier says.

Hundreds of hotel guests were evacuated in the early hours of Monday when a pilot died after misappropriating a helicopter and striking the roof of DoubleTree by Hilton in the Cairns city centre.

The man who flew the chopper had been an employee of an aircraft charter company for four months, police said on Tuesday.

They believe the man was 23-year-old Blake Wilson from the Cairns suburb of Smithfield.

Nautilus Aviation, which employed the pilot in a ground crew position, said he had gained unauthorised access to a helicopter in their hangar after a farewell event not co-ordinated by the company.

It said he had a New Zealand pilot's licence but had never flown in Australia and was not authorised to use a Nautilus Aviation helicopter.

"Cairns airport may well consider to look at their specific arrangements, but I think it's probably too early to tell," Premier Steven Miles said when asked if a review was needed into airport security.

The crash probe is expected to involve the Department of Home Affairs, which oversees airport security.

Probing the airport's security could be worthwhile, aviation expert Peter Carter said.

"The security arrangement at that airport is the same as at most, if not all, general aviation airports in Australia. So a review is probably very worthwhile, in my opinion," he told AAP.

"It's an inside job, so it's very hard to create security arrangements to prevent that sort of thing occurring.

"The company might consider different levels of access depending on the seniority of the employee ... it should come to its own conclusion as to the arrangements it makes for security, in my opinion."

Cairns Airport said an initial review indicated site access had not been compromised.

"Our thoughts are with all affected by the distressing incident at Cairns Esplanade," CEO Richard Barker said in a statement.

"Cairns Airport operates under a federally approved, multi-layered transport security program.

"To reassure our community, we wish to confirm a review has been conducted, showing no compromise of our airport fence or access points."

The helicopter was seen flying for at least five minutes in the Cairns CBD before it crashed into the hotel roof, smashing windows of nearby rooms with one occupied by a sleeping elderly couple.

Two guests, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s, were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and have been released.