{"id":78002,"date":"2025-08-18T18:09:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/78002\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T18:09:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:09:04","slug":"aviation-authority-launches-cross-claim-against-matt-wright-over-fatal-helicopter-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/78002\/","title":{"rendered":"Aviation authority launches cross-claim against Matt Wright over fatal helicopter crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia’s aviation regulator has launched a counter-claim against Matt Wright, arguing the TV star should pay any damages awarded over a 2022 chopper crash that killed his co-star and close friend, Chris “Willow” Wilson.<\/p>\n

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) claims Mr Wright should pay 100 per cent of any damages awarded to Mr Wilson’s widow, Danielle Wilson, alleging his failure to comply with its conditions “caused or materially contributed to” Mr Wilson’s death.<\/p>\n

Danielle Wilson is suing CASA, Mr Wright and his company Helibrook<\/a> in the Federal Court over her husband’s death on February 28, 2022, during a crocodile egg-collecting mission in remote Arnhem Land.<\/p>\n

Ms Wilson claims CASA should never have approved the method<\/a> whereby Mr Wilson was slung below a helicopter piloted by Sebastian Robinson and lowered onto crocodile nests to collect their eggs.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The helicopter that Chris Wilson was hanging under on the day of the fatal crash. (Supplied: Careflight)<\/p>\n

“If CASA had taken any of the reasonable precautions the accident would not have occurred or, in the alternative, the failure by CASA to take the reasonable precautions materially contributed to the accident,” her statement of claim reads.<\/p>\n

Ms Wilson claims Mr Wright also failed to take reasonable precautions, including by taking steps “to ensure that Helibrook had in place an appropriate safety culture and appropriate systems, practices and procedures”.<\/p>\n

But in a cross-claim filed with the court last month, CASA claims Mr Wright “was the person ultimately responsible” for ensuring Helibrook and its workers complied with the terms of the regulator’s approval.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Danielle Wilson is suing the Civil Aviaion Safety Authority, Matt Wright and his company Helibrook in the Federal Court. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n

“The cross-respondent [Mr Wright] did not ensure compliance with the conditions imposed by CASA on conduct of the activity, or with the civil aviation legislation during the flight on 28 February, 2022,” the document reads.<\/p>\n

“As a consequence of the cross-respondent’s failure to ensure compliance with conditions imposed by CASA and with the civil aviation legislation, the cross-respondent caused or materially contributed to Mr Wilson’s death.”<\/p>\n

CASA’s cross-claim argues Mr Wright should be liable for 100 per cent of any damages the regulator is ordered to pay Ms Wilson.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Danielle Wilson is seeking damages for mental harm and the loss of her husband Chris “Willow” Wilson’s financial support for herself and their children. (National Geographic)<\/p>\n

In his defence to the original statement of claim, Mr Wright denies he failed to take reasonable precautions and denies any negligence by himself or Helibrook.<\/p>\n

“The third respondent [Mr Wright] denies that he was Mr Wilson or Mr Robinson’s employer pro hac vice and denies that he was vicariously liable for the acts of Mr Robinson as alleged or at all,” it reads.<\/p>\n

“The third respondent contends that the applicant and Mr Robinson were independent contractors and not employees of Helibrook or the third respondent.”<\/p>\n

The case is due to return to the Federal Court on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia’s aviation regulator has launched a counter-claim against Matt Wright, arguing the TV star should pay any damages…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,59693,51800,16806,32287,1108,1154,35004,59692,1300,6011,59694,4892,22623,2462,34408,44,1098,22639,48746,57056],"class_list":["post-78002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-casa","tag-chopper","tag-chris","tag-civil","tag-court","tag-crash","tag-dani","tag-danielle","tag-death","tag-federal","tag-helibrook","tag-helicopter","tag-husband","tag-lawsuit","tag-matt-wright","tag-news","tag-nt","tag-wife","tag-willow","tag-wilson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}