Sea World crash inquest asked for delay until February by company Sea World Helicopters
The company at the centre of the Sea World chopper crash has been denied a request to split the inquest, but did score a small win.
The company at the centre of the Sea World chopper crash has been denied a request to split the inquest to give evidence in February, but scored another week instead.
The coronial inquest already witnessed shocking footage of the January 2, 2023 crash last week which took the lives of chief pilot Ash Jenkinson, along with passengers Ron and Diane Hughes, and Vanessa Tadros.
Michael Trim KC, acting on behalf of Sea World Helicopters CEO Brett Newman and employees at the company said they were inundated with thousands of pages of material and given no time to properly consider it.
They cited some 3700 pages of material, a new export report given a week before the inquest commenced, and 4700 pages since it started.
“It’s not just the number of pages, but in regard to the number of different times material has been received,” Mr Trim said.
Pushing the hearing to February would allow them to account for the disruption the holiday period brings, the inquest heard.
Ian Harvey, counsel assisting said the delay was unnecessary, and any potential adverse findings could be dealt with and responded to as they arose.
“There’s no suggestion that any person has yet been identified as someone in respect to adverse findings or comments potentially made,” Mr Harvey said.
Coroner Carol Lee could instead delay the proceedings one week at most, returning to the Sea World Helicopter witnesses once they had more time to review the evidence, he submitted.
Patrick Hornby, acting on behalf of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said he “assumed” a majority of the evidence referred to was the ATSB report, which had been public since April.
Mr Hornby said the safety body had been in consultation with Sea World Helicopters since the report was first published.
Village Roadshow Theme Parks underlined to the court the application was not made in its name, or on behalf of its clients.
Coroner Lee said Sea World Helicopters had been on notice of the 11 detailed issues since April 2025, given them six months to prepare, while the ATSB reports had been released in March 2023, January 2024, and April 2025.
“I’m not persuaded the lion’s share of this new information has taken Sea World Helicopters by surprise,” she said, adding they had ample time to prepare.
“There has been no adverse findings against Sea World Helicopters, or indeed any other party.”
Coroner Lee said she had to consider the interests of the families of the four deceased, given it was coming up to the third tragic anniversary.
“They have been waiting patiently for these proceedings,” she said.
“They have travelled widely to be here and have a legitimate expectation that these proceedings will conclude as planned.”
She declined the request to delay the evidence until February, but accepted a delay of one week for 12 witnesses.
That includes Sea World Helicopters CEO Mr Newman, director John Orr-Campbell, chief pilot Ben Hall, along with experts at ATSB and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
Dr Jeff Brock, who the inquest heard will provide more detailed explanations following the ATSB report, is scheduled for Monday.
Michael Moran from Gold Coast City council, and Thalia Ellem, executive assistant to the chief pilot, Sea World Helicopters, will be heard when the inquest resumes at 2pm.
