‘Unimaginable grief’ as army chopper crash inquiry ends
Savannah Meacham |
The heartbreaking impact of a fatal army helicopter crash has been revealed as a mammoth inquiry into the tragedy finally finished.
Family members of four air crew killed in the 2023 incident broke down before consoling each other in Brisbane on Friday after describing their “unimaginable grief”.
One family spoke of losing faith in the Australian Defence Force over the incident while tears flowed as a victim’s wife described her husband’s death as “preventable”.
The emotional scenes capped the inquiry, launched after Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph “Phillip” Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs died when their MRH-90 Taipan crashed off Queensland’s coast in July 2023.
The curtain was drawn on the probe before former judge Margaret McMurdo on Friday after nine hearings and dozens of witnesses spanning more than a year.
The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Inquiry was formed in October 2023, tasked with examining the cause of the crash and whether the action or inaction of army personnel or others contributed.
Over the hearings concerns were raised by army personnel about the helicopter, severe fatigue and high workload for pilots and night-vision technology.
Statements from the air crew’s families were heard on Friday, with Capt Lyon’s wife Caitland breaking down over the “unbearable” evidence and describing her husband’s death as “preventable”.
But she said her husband would have wanted the truth behind the helicopter crash to be known.
“He would have fought for it, not just for himself, but for anyone in his position,” she sobbed.
She recalled her husband warning “someone would die” after being unhappy with the response to an incident in March 2023 when an MRH-90 Taipan suffered an engine failure, causing it to ditch into the sea.
Months later Capt Lyon was killed with the three other colleagues when their Taipan crashed during the Exercise Talisman Sabre training exercise.
Ms Lyon said her husband trusted the defence force to keep him safe and equipment had been properly tested and selected.
“He gave everything. Even his life,” she said.
Capt Lyon’s mother Sue said she had lost faith in the defence force.
“Daniel’s life cannot be returned to us, but we owe it to his memory and to others who served on July 28, 2023, (that this) never happens again,” she said.
Lt Nugent’s family said he was exactly where he wanted to be before it ended in tragedy.
“He was 24 with the world ahead of him … he was doing what he loved,” a family statement read.
“We will never get to see where life would have taken him or share in his joys.”
Corp Naggs’ partner Sarah Loft’s voice cracked as she addressed the inquiry.
“It’s been 652 days and I’m still unable to watch Friends or Modern Family, to move Alex’s toothbrush from where he left it, or to accept that he’s not coming home,” she said.
“Dan, Max, Phil and Alex deserved better.”
Parents Wayne and Dianne Laycock said they could still remember the day two people in khaki uniforms and shiny boots knocked on their door.
“We knew we had lost Phillip on that day,” their statement read.
“Hardly a day goes by when we don’t wake up in the morning (or) we go to bed at night without memories of Phillip and tears in our eyes.”
The air crew’s families urged the defence force to implement the inquiry’s recommendations to prevent another tragedy occurring.
Ms McMurdo will hand down her findings at an undetermined date.
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AAP
