Nikita Jo Walker pilot inquest: Tragic detail in coroner’s report

A Tasmanian coroner has released his report into the death of an experienced Par Avion pilot in the state’s southwest. He ruled many things out, but key questions remain.

A Tasmanian coroner has found the death of a beloved pilot in December 2018 was a “misadventure”, with his report tragically revealing she may have emerged safely from the ranges which claimed her life but for one final turn.

Queensland-born Tranmere pilot Nikita Jo Walker was aged 30 when, on the morning of December 8, 2018, she left Cambridge Aerodrome in a twin-engine craft en route to Bathurst Harbour’s Melaleuca Airstrip, where she was to pick up five passengers.

The Par Avion pilot never arrived: at approximately 8.28am, in the midst of inclement weather, her aeroplane slammed into the side of the Western Arthurs range’s Western Portal.

Coroner Simon Cooper ruled Ms Walker’s death would have been “instantaneous”, suffering as she did simultaneous “multiple blunt traumatic injuries and incineration”.

Mr Cooper said the aircraft “collided (with the mountain) when in a relatively steep angle of bank, suggesting that Ms Walker remained in control of the aircraft and had suddenly become aware of the immediate threat... and thus attempted to pull up sharply”.

Upon entering the valley between the saddle, Ms Walker performed a series of 180 degree turns, before making a final, fatal error: a turn to the left which brought her to the mountain face.

The tragedy, according to Ms Walker’s employer, was that had she maintained her course, she would have crested the saddle once again and been “safely en route back to Cambridge”.

“Whether by that point she had decided to go back to Cambridge or to attempt the coastal route (as opposed to the direct route) can only be speculation,” Par Avion, as quoted in Mr Cooper’s report, said.

Par Avion pilot Nikita Jo Walker, 30, who perished in an accident on December 8, 2018. Picture: SUPPLIED

Mr Cooper found there were no defects in the plane, Ms Walker was not affected by drugs or alcohol, nor had she expressed any suicidal ideation, leading him to conclude her death was a “misadventure... that is, an accident”.

“The evidence, viewed as a whole, does not point to any particular factor as especially causative or contributory to Ms Walker’s fatal crash,” he said.

There was no evidence to suggest Ms Walker was unwise to have commenced her flight, nor was her choice of route “inappropriate”.

“What happened in the immediate moments before colliding with the Western Portal can only be speculation,” Mr Cooper said.

Much conjecture at the inquest fell upon the issue of weather forecasting, which was “extensively investigated and considered,” especially due to an incendiary report by the ATSB which alleged Par Avion “encouraged” Ms Walker to fly despite “unfavourable” weather conditions.

Par Avion pilot Nikita Jo Walker, 30, who perished in an accident on December 8, 2018. Picture: SUPPLIED

The bureau, in its report into Ms Walker’s death cited in Mr Cooper’s findings, concluded Par Avion “did not provide any documented guidance for the South-West operations, despite encouraging pilots to commence the flight, even when forecasts indicated they may be likely to encounter adverse weather en route”.

Mr Cooper was forensic in his dismantling of the ATSB, finding its report “(lacked) much by way of reasoning, is largely speculative and is... of little forensic value”.

“Most surprisingly, despite the fact it was investigating an aircraft crash, the ATSB does not appear to establish, at all, the reason for the crash,” he said.

“The ATSB report was of so little use as to be... worthless.”

Originally published as Nikita Jo Walker pilot inquest: Tragic detail in coroner’s report