Flight-time meters were allegedly tampered with by a helicopter pilot, leading to falsified documentation for Matt Wright, a reality TV star, prior to a fatal crash on a mission to collect crocodile eggs. Jock Purcell, a pilot, testified in court that he and Wright often disconnected the flight-time meters and didn’t fill out necessary paperwork. The incident occurred on a crocodile egg-collecting trip in remote swampland in the Northern Territory of Australia, which resulted in the death of the show’s co-star, Chris “Willow” Wilson, and left the helicopter pilot, Sebastian Robinson, paralyzed.
Prosecutors claim that Wright was worried investigators would uncover the truth about the tampered flight-time meters, which would have extended flying hours beyond official limits. Purcell confirmed that he and Wright had disabled the Hobbs meters, devices that track flight hours, and failed to submit maintenance certification on numerous occasions. Purcell also stated that Robinson had done the same thing and had instructed him on how to do it.
Purcell flew to the crash site on the day of the crash and found the helicopter’s console had been unscrewed. Although the Hobbs meter was connected, he claimed he wasn’t trying to check its connection for investigators. A secretly recorded conversation from August 2022, played for the jury, revealed Wright worrying about what Robinson might have told the investigators. The prosecution emphasizes that the charges against Wright do not relate to the cause of the accident or Wilson’s death.
Expected to last up to five weeks, the jury trial for Matt Wright, who pleaded not guilty to three charges of attempting to pervert justice, is currently underway at the Supreme Court in Darwin.
