Aviation body accused of hiding details after death of pilot Mathew Farrell

A national aviation body has been referred to prosecutors over “alarming” allegations it deliberately hid information during an investigation into the death of a pilot in the rugged High Country.

Filmmaker and adventurer Mathew Farrell died when the light plane he was flying crashed into bushland in 2022. Picture: The Karakoram Anomaly Project / Facebook

A national aviation body has been referred to Victorian prosecutors over allegations it hid information from a coronial inquest probing the death of a recreational pilot in the rugged High Country.

Filmmaker and adventurer Mathew Farrell, 42, was killed when the light plane he was flying solo crashed in dense bushland west of Lucyvale in Victoria’s northeast in 2022.

Recreational Aviation Australia, the governing body for ultralights, was on Friday referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions by Coroner Paul Lawrie as he handed down his findings into Mr Farrell’s death.

On September 18, Mr Farrell took off from Mount Beauty Airport about midday in a Jabiru plane – which he had recently purchased – bound for Wollongong in NSW.

During a six-day inquest last year, the court heard the speed of the plane dropped significantly before it crashed into mountainous terrain after 12.41pm.

A desperate search was launched after Mr Farrell failed to arrive at his destination, with the crash site not found until the following morning due to adverse weather.

Mr Farrell, from Tawonga, was an experienced paraglider who was granted his recreational pilot’s certificate by RAAus only months before his death.

Mr Farrell had only completed 3.6 hours of solo flying during his training. Picture: The Karakoram Anomaly Project / Facebook

But Coroner Lawrie on Friday found he had only completed 3.6 hours of solo flying during his training, with 3.3 of those hours conducted on a single day.

“It simply beggars belief that a student pilot … however talented they may be, could be trained effectively to certificate standard in all the above aspects of flying in one day,” he said.

Mr Farrell was granted his “cross-country endorsement” in June 2022 – which allows pilots to fly anywhere in Australia – after his paragliding experience was taken into account.

But Coroner Lawrie found both this endorsement and his “passenger endorsement” were improperly issued.

Documents discovered late in the coronial inquest revealed aspects of evidence given by Jillian Bailey, the former head of flight operations at RAAus, were false.

In October 2022, RAAus management reviewed its flight operations manual and concluded that “recognised flight time” did not include paragliding experience and that Mr Farrell’s certificate and endorsements were “issued in error”.

However, correspondence confirming this information was only produced to the court after RAAus was compelled to produce it.

“I am compelled to conclude that RAAus engaged in a deliberate strategy to hide these key issues from the court,” Coroner Lawrie said.

“Ms Bailey gave evidence which was false in material respects, which also served to hide these key issues.”

Mr Farrell and his fiance Karen Waller. Picture: Supplied

In a joint statement, Mr Farrell’s partner Karen Waller and Maurice Blackburn lawyers Trang van Heugten and Corinna Lagerberg said it was “alarming” key documents were deliberately hidden from the court.

“Karen’s hope was that the inquest would be a transparent and thorough inquiry into the circumstances that contributed to Mathew’s death,” they said.

“We have been troubled by the obstacles that have been put in the way of that during the inquest, this is evident by the findings which have been delivered today.

“It is alarming to hear the coroner conclude that RAAus had engaged in a deliberate strategy to hide key documents from the court in relation to an investigation into a death of one of their own members.”

The trio said they hoped the findings would improve industry standards.

“We welcome the findings of the coroner and will now be looking into legal avenues for our client,” they said.

“We hope that the coroner’s findings and recommendations can be used to put in place improved aviation industry standards so that future recreational pilots are provided with adequate training and certification to decrease the risk of unnecessary harm or death to them.”

Mr Farrell was described as a “wonderful partner” and “talented filmmaker and photographer”, who had previously worked for News Corp newspaper, The Mercury.

Coroner Lawrie said Mr Farrell likely lost control after he “flew into cloud, lost outside visual references and became spatially disoriented”.

“Meteorological conditions were not suitable … and any reasonably prudent pilot would not have undertaken the flight in the circumstances,” he said.

He made five recommendations, including that RAAus no longer investigate fatal accidents involving its registered aircraft.

RAAus has been contacted for comment.