Bush pilot ditched Outback Wrangler star's mobile phone after fatal helicopter crash, trial hears

The Guardian

5 days ago

A bush pilot has told a court he ditched reality TV star Chris 'Willow' Wilson's mobile phone after a fatal helicopter crash, but can't recall unscrewing the chopper's console with Outback Wrangler's Matt Wright.
Michael Burbidge, pilot and director of Remote Helicopters, gave evidence at Wright's trial in the Supreme Court in Darwin on Friday.
Wilson was in a sling under a helicopter on a crocodile egg collecting mission when it crashed, killing him and injuring pilot Sebastian Robinson, who is now a paraplegic.
Wright has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following the February 2022 crash in a remote part of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
The crown case is that Wright did not properly record helicopter flying hours and was concerned crash investigators would uncover the issue, triggering possible charges against him and his company.
Crown prosecutor Jason Gullaci SC has told the jury the charges did not relate to the cause of the accident and it was not alleged Wright was responsible for the crash or the death.
Burbidge, flying his own helicopter for egg collecting, was first onto the crash scene after contact was lost with Robinson's chopper.
Burbidge told the jury he landed near the crash site to find Wilson dead and Robinson critically injured.
He rendered first aid to Robinson and leaned inside the chopper to turn the machine's master switch off.
Burbidge said he was on the scene for maybe an hour before other pilots and egg collectors alerted to the crash arrived but 'it felt like forever'.
Wright later flew in on his chopper with then police officer Neil Mellon, who removed items from Wilson's body, including his phone and a handgun.
Burbidge said he was given the mobile and said to Mellon 'Dani doesn't need to see what's on the phone', referring to Wilson's partner Dani Wilson.
He agreed he had got rid of the phone, 'ditched it, somewhere on the way home'.
Burbidge told the court he was later charged and fined for disposing of the phone after pleading guilty.
'I did it all on my own,' he said.
Burbidge said he had no recollection of inspecting the crashed chopper's fuel tank or detaching the craft's console along with Wright as other witnesses have reported.
The crown has alleged that Wright wanted to look behind the console to check if the Hobbs flight-hour recording meter was disconnected.
It's been alleged Wright and his pilots regularly disconnected the meters to extend helicopters' flying hours beyond official thresholds and falsified logbooks and maintenance releases.
Burbidge said he did not disconnect Hobbs meters, but he had heard of the practice.
The court was played a covertly recorded phone call in which Burbidge told Wright he had heard there had been 'shit written' in a chopper's logbook saying 'clock found disconnected again'.
Burbidge told Gullaci the August 2022 call was just between friends about a rumour he had heard and he was concerned about putting the records right.
He denied that it might be evidence of Wright disconnecting a Hobbs meter.
Defence senior counsel David Edwardson KC has told the jury his client 'emphatically denied' trying to get Robinson to falsify flight records or telling an associate to 'torch' a maintenance release.
The trial before acting Justice Alan Blow is expected to take up to five weeks.