Matt Wright reveals the abuse and threats aimed at his family after chopper crash

Outback Wrangler Matt Wright has detailed the ‘out-of-control’ abuse, death threats and rumours aimed at his family since the chopper crash that killed his best mate Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson.

Matt Wright won’t be filming any reality television any time soon and can’t bring himself to watch his hit TV reality show Wild Croc Territory. It’s just too painful.

The popular Outback Wrangler has also stepped away from his helicopter business in the aftermath of the crash that killed his best mate and television co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson.

“I’ve sold the choppers. I’m getting away from all that, I don’t wanna go there again,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

“I got publicly blamed for the death of my best mate it’s just not f..king worth it.”

In his first sit-down interview since the fatal chopper crash in remote NT croc-infested swampland, an emotional Wright said he has not properly grieved the loss of his mate, and had spent the last year with his “back to the wall” battling death threats, vandalism to his businesses and home, and “out of control rumours” that had deeply hurt his family.

“My wife Kaia was at home and some grub goes in there and cut our power to our house, like physically cutting the power pole,” Wright said.

Matt Wright pictured in Darwin with his wife Kaia and kids Banjo and Dusty. Picture: Charlie Bliss

“Kaia copping abuse at shopping centres and stuff. They say things like ‘I can’t wait for your husband to get locked up, he’s f..king scum’.

“Then there’s ‘Don’t worry I will look after you and your kids when your husband’s in jail’ and ‘Can’t wait for him to get to jail so we can shank him’, just all that sort of stuff.”

Wright said signs had been ripped down and vandalised at his tourism businesses.

“We’ve had bottles thrown through a bus, you know, just out-of-control stuff and you think ‘why?’.”

Wright went from outback hero to public enemy number one overnight in the Northern Territory as news emerged that police would lay charges over events following the fatal crash in February last year.

No charges have been laid in relation to Mr Wilson’s death.

Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson was killed in the helicopter crash.

Wilson was killed when the Robinson R44 helicopter carrying him from a sling line plummeted to the ground near the NT’s King River in February last year.

Pilot Sebastian Robinson suffered serious injuries.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found the helicopter was likely not refuelled at the en route fuel depot, which was about three quarters of the way between the departure location on the outskirts of Darwin and a clearing near King River where the helicopter and crew were to commence crocodile egg collecting.

The pilot did not identify the reducing fuel state before the helicopter’s engine stopped in flight due to fuel exhaustion, the ATSB report found.

The ATSB found that Helibrook’s CASA-approved safety management system was not being used to systematically identify and manage operational hazards.

As a result, the risks inherent in conducting human sling operations, such as carriage of the egg collector above a survivable fall height, were not adequately addressed.

The ATSB also found that the pilot’s exposure to cocaine within the previous few days increased the likelihood of fatigue, depression and inattention, however there was insufficient evidence to determine if these effects occurred.

The helicopter’s emergency locator transmitter had been removed from its mount prior to the accident, the report found, therefore, it could not activate automatically, which likely delayed the emergency response.

An ATSB report into the incident concluded that the chopper ran out of fuel on the crocodile egg collecting mission.

On the day of the tragedy Wright received a call that there had been an accident involving the chopper operated by his company Helibrook, then learnt shortly after that Willow had died.

He flew to the scene, with former police officer Neil Mellon and prominent Darwin publican and crocodile farmer Mick Burns, to discover Wilson was dead, and learnt Robinson had suffered serious spinal injuries.

Also at the crash scene were other members of the egg-collecting crew including Michael Burbidge and Jock Purcell.

Wright will never apologise for visiting the crash site, even though it landed him in court facing a raft of criminal charges relating to his alleged actions when he arrived that day.

Wright is charged with seven offences over issues not directly relating to the crash, including attempting to pervert the course of justice, destroying evidence, fabricating evidence, unlawful entry and interfering with witnesses.

A committal hearing will be held next month.

Wright (left) was one of the pallbearers at Wilson’s funeral, held at the Darwin Convention centre. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“I’m getting pumped because I flew out there to say goodbye to my best mate,” Wright said.

“We sat with Willow until CareFlight came, we helped them load him into the machine and watched them fly him back to Darwin. That’s one of the hardest bloody moments of all of our lives,” Wright said.

“Mick was first on scene. He looked after Seb and made sure he survived,” Wright said.

“I looked over the machine trying to work out what the f..k happened.

“I’ve known this machine inside and out. It just didn’t make sense that it just fell out of the sky like that, especially after it had just come out of maintenance.”

Wright said the ATSB findings brought mixed emotions.

“There’s certain aspects of that report that makes you upset that it’s such a simple accident that killed Willow,” he said.

“We didn’t want that to be true. As hard as it is for everyone involved, there are some answers now as to what happened.

“Some people won’t believe it. It’s like any accident they’ll come up with their own narrative.

“The rumours are ludicrous.

Wright says he and his family have received abuse and death threats since the accident.

“There’s been articles trying to discredit the ATSB findings about the helicopter being refuelled. But the ATSB report itself says that the person claiming to have refuelled it initially told investigators a different story. Months later he changed his story, but he wasn’t even trained or authorised to refill the helicopter. It wasn’t his job.

“The helicopter wasn’t missing a beat. It was in good working order.”

Wright said the “noise” that surrounded the accident meant he hadn’t been able to fully accept Willow was gone

He said he would now focus on his upcoming court case, then take stock, focus on his other tourism businesses and look to sharing his time between the north and the southern states.

Wiping away tears he says the ATSB report and talk of the accident again had brought back emotions he thought he had dealt with.

“Enough lives have been ruined through this,” he said.

“We know what’s happened, no more lives need to be ruined.

“The pilot has suffered enough, he is in a wheelchair which is horrible, we’ve lost Willow, lives have been turned upside down, so I want it to just stop.”

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