A helicopter pilot disconnected flight-time meters and falsified paperwork for reality TV star Matt Wright in the lead-up to a fatal crash on a crocodile egg-collecting mission, a court has been told.
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See subscription optionsJock Purcell gave evidence in the Supreme Court in Darwin on Monday in the jury trial of the Outback Wrangler star, who has pleaded not guilty to three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The show's co-star, Chris "Willow" Wilson, was suspended by a sling from a chopper when he fell to his death in remote swampland in the Northern Territory in February 2022.
The helicopter then crashed, leaving pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.
Prosecutors allege Wright was worried crash investigators would uncover that flight-time meters were regularly disconnected to extend flying hours beyond official thresholds and paperwork was falsified.
Under questioning by crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci on Monday, Mr Purcell admitted there were "more than 10 times" he didn't fill out a maintenance release form after flying one of Wright's helicopters.
He also admitted disconnecting Hobbs meters, devices that recorded flight hours, and said he had seen Wright do the same thing.
The disconnections occurred when required services were near-due for a helicopter, Mr Purcell said.
He agreed he took directions from Wright on disconnecting meters and not recording hours.
Mr Robinson also disconnected meters and had shown him how to do it, Mr Purcell said.
He flew to the accident scene on the day of the crash and he said the aircraft's console had been unscrewed, but he couldn't recall who by.
Under questioning from Mr Gullaci, the pilot said he looked behind the console to see if anything stood out to explain the crash and he saw the Hobbs meter was connected.
"You wanted to see whether it was connected or not for when investigators turned up to look at the crashed helicopter?" Mr Gullaci asked.
"I don't believe so," Mr Purcell replied.
The jury was played a covertly recorded conversation between Wright and Mr Purcell from August 2022 in which the reality TV star said: "The Hobbs has been touched, they've moved it forward or some f***ing thing."
"I don't know what Sebby (Mr Robinson) said to them ... because a lot of this stuff they could have got out of the (maintenance release)," Wright went on to say.
When asked by Mr Gullaci if "they" referred to crash investigators, Mr Purcell said he couldn't be sure as the call was a long time ago.
The charges against Wright do not relate to the cause of the accident and the prosecution does not allege he is responsible for either the crash or Mr Wilson's death.
The trial before acting Justice Allan Blow is expected to take up to five weeks.
Australian Associated Press
