Coroner releases ruling over fatal Anna Bay helicopter crash

Shocking details about the final horrific moments before a chopper disappeared and five people were killed have been revealed at an inquest.

The deaths of two men and the disappearance of three other people involved in a horrific helicopter crash on the NSW coast was the consequence of misadventure, a coroner has found.

Pilot David Kerr and passengers Jamie Ogden, Grant Kuhnemann, Gregory Miller and his partner Jocelyn Villanueva died on the night of September 6, 2019 when the ex-military chopper they were in crashed into the ocean at Anna Bay, north of Newcastle.

Jocelyn Villanueva and Greg Miller were tragically killed in the crash. Picture: Facebook

An exhaustive search effort in the weeks after the crash led to the retrieval of human remains which belonged to Mr Miller and Mr Kuhnemann.

The bodies of Mr Kerr, Mr Ogden and Ms Villanueva have never been found and until Coroner Carolyn Huntsman handed down her findings on the closing day of an inquest on Wednesday, the trio had been classified as missing persons.

Grant Kuhnemann was one of five people killed in the crash. Picture: Facebook

Mr Kerr was the owner of the chopper and in control when it crashed after leaving Archerfield Airport about 2.30pm, the inquest heard.

The group was due to depart from Brisbane earlier in the day, bound for Bankstown Airport in Sydney where the helicopter was due to be rehoused after Mr Miller and Ms Villanueva put a $200,000 deposit down to buy it off Mr Kerr.

Jamie Ogden was an ex-cop who served with Mr Kerr and Mr Kuhneman. Picture: Facebook

The later than expected departure time prompted Mr Miller to say “we might have to do this tomorrow” but a decision was made to continue with the flight, the inquest heard.

Between 3.10pm and 4pm the chopper landed at Coffs Harbour airport to refuel and Coroner Huntsman said unfavourable weather conditions would have been apparent, with reports of increased winds.

“David Kerr would have been aware of this,” she said.

“He further would have anticipated that the time of day would have resulted in arriving at Bankstown Airport after last light.

“A reasonable and prudent course would have been to have suspended the flight and continued the next day. However, it may have been that David Kerr was experiencing ‘plan continuation bias’ – to continue and complete the initial plan which was to travel to Bankstown Airport – so he made a decision to continue through to Bankstown in spite of changed and worsening conditions.”

The inquest was told the chopper was not fitted with equipment to enable it to be flown at night and Mr Kerr did not have appropriate training or qualifications to fly in those conditions.

David Kerr was the owner of a charter flight company called Brisbane Helicopters.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau Investigation found Mr Kerr most likely lost control of the helicopter because he would not have been able to see where he was going properly.

Coroner Huntsman said the chopper disappeared about 6.13pm, seconds before a “short, loud, indistinct transmission”, suspected to be a shout or a scream, was heard through radio transmission.

Further inquiries found the chopper’s descent into the ocean was occurring at a rate of 8,448 feet per minute.

“The evidence clearly establishes that, without appropriate flight instruments in the helicopter, and without night flight training, the pilot exposed everyone to risk by flying with the aid of visual cues only once daylight had receded,” Coroner Huntsman said.

“In this matter the cause of the crash was clear, on all the evidence, as being the pilot continuing after last light to fly a helicopter which was not equipped for night flying and where the pilot was not trained for night flying with visual cues only.

“The cause of the crash was the spatial disorientation experienced by the pilot when he proceeded with the flight after last light.”

Mr Kerr, Mr Ogden and Mr Kuhnemann were all ex-Queensland police officers, while Sydney-based Mr Miller spent more than 20 years serving in the army. Ms Villanueva had a long career with Qantas and working for the federal government.