Sea World pilot's best mate grilled at inquest over chief pilot Ash Jenkinson’s cocaine use
Lawyers at an inquest into the Sea World chopper tragedy have grilled a friend of Sea World Helicopters’ chief pilot about the latter’s use of cocaine, as his partner said he was under immense pressure at work.
A fellow pilot and best mate of Sea World Helicopters chief pilot Ashley Jenkinson has been grilled about the latter’s cocaine use – said to happen four to five times a year – at the inquest examining the Gold Coast chopper tragedy.
In other evidence on Tuesday, Mr Jenkinson’s fiancee said he had had a breakdown – which she attributed to work pressure – in the weeks before the crash.
Mr Jenkinson and Ron and Diane Hughes, and Vanessa Tadros perished when their helicopter collided with another Sea World Helicopter on January 2, 2023.
Ross Meadows, whose company Media Booth provided digital marketing services to SWH, was a close friend of Mr Jenkinson and said he observed his mate doing what he believed was a line of cocaine at a New Year’s Eve party at the chief pilot’s home that went into the early hours of January 1 2023.
“Nothing good comes from that shit,” the inquest heard Mr Meadows, who does not use cocaine, said at the time.
Despite this Mr Meadows said it never occurred to him to report or raise concerns about Mr Jenkinson’s cocaine use, which he believed happened irregularly at social occasions.
“Are you saying to your honour that it never occurred to you that that could be quite literally a danger. to the passengers and indeed the pilot himself?”barrister Greg O’Mahoney, for aerospace company Cheston which had equipment in the helicopters asked.
“It’s hindsight for me,” Mr Meadows said.
“It’s only on your mind as a matter of hindsight,” Mr O’Mahoney asked.
“Yeah, it really didn’t click to me,” Mr Meadows said.
“Was there not a part of you that at some point thought, before this accident, that you should mentor Mr Jenkinson about the very real risks as a friend and as a fellow helicopter pilot, that cocaine use might present both to himself and those who he flew,” Mr O’Mahoney persisted.
“I’m not a psychologist or anything in that field and for me to do that it’s not my place,” Mr Meadows responded.
Mr Meadows’ lawyer Alan Girle asked his client about Mr Jenkinson’s piloting and safety skills.
“He was a phenomenal pilot … Ash was an extremely good pilot,” he said.
“We had a lot of fun together outside of the aircraft, but when we got in there, he was a very serious person. He didn’t take it lightly.”
Mr Meadows said Mr Jenkinson invested a lot of time into air safety and was “very proud” of the systems in place at SWH.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the mid air collision – which saw Mr Jenkinson’s passengers Winnie De Silva and her nine-year-old son Leon and Mrs Tadros’s son Nicholas survive – found it unlikely the pilot’s psychomotor skills were impaired during the accident flight by the low cocaine metabolites found in his system post crash.
Kosha Richardson-Johnson, who had been in a relationship with Mr Jenkinson since 2017, told the inquest the introduction of new choppers at Sea World had been stressful.
She said she found him crying in a cupboard.
“That’s when he had a breakdown and started crying and saying, ‘you don’t understand how much pressure I’m under’,” Ms Richardson-Johnson, who suffers PTSD and had to take several breaks during her evidence, told the inquest.
She said there was an increased workload for Mr Jenkinson in relation to the induction of his new helicopter.
“It was the busy time of year, so it was extra work for him,” she said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau report published earlier this year suggested the new helicopters, which were the EC130s “were pushed in before Christmas … to use them as a marketing tool”.
The helicopters involved in the collision were both these new EC130s. The court heard a key difference between the EC130 and most helicopters is that the pilot would sit on the left side, instead of the right.
“I’m aware that it was from Indonesia, and some engineering had to be done on it when it arrived in Australia,” Ms Richardson-Johnson said.
In a different line of questioning, Ms Richardson-Johnson was asked about her partner’s cocaine use by Counsel Assisting Ryan Nattrass.
She said Mr Jenkinson used cocaine recreationally about six to eight times a year at concerts, birthdays and parties.
“How much would he ordinarily use?” Mr Nattrass said.
“In my company it would be just be … a bag,” she responded.
At the couple’s New Year’s Eve party she last saw him do a line of cocaine before they went to bed around 3am about 35 hours before the crash.
Earlier Mr Meadows, who did not work for SWH but consulted them on marketing, said he did not recall a rush to get the new helicopters in service.
“A push or a rush, no it’s not something I’ve ever experienced. It’s what I call aviation time, it’s a slow process,” he said.
The inquest continues Wednesday.
Originally published as Sea World pilot's best mate grilled at inquest over chief pilot Ash Jenkinson’s cocaine use
