Diane and Ron Hughes were among the four people to die in the crash
Diane and Ron Hughes(Image: UGC)
A pilot involved in a helicopter crash which killed a couple may not have been aware that he was impaired by the cocaine, beers and whisky he consumed less than 48 hours before the incident, an inquest has heard.
Diane, 57, and Ron Hughes, 65, from Neston, died after the two helicopters crashed mid-air on Australia’s Gold Coast on January 2 2023. The couple, who had only been married 18 months, were visiting family in Australia. The incident, which happened at around 2pm local time, happened not far from Sea World in Queensland.
One helicopter was taking off and the other was landing. One of the helicopters was able to safely land on the sandbank, with five of its six passengers suffering only minor injuries. But the other helicopter crashed, killing four of those inside and leaving a further three critically injured. Sydney mum Vanessa Tadros, 36, and Sea World pilot Ashley Jenkinson also died.
As reported by the Australian Associated Press, the inquest into the crash began on November 24 in Brisbane, and was overseen by Brisbane Coroner Carol Lee.
Sea World owner Village Roadshow Theme Parks sold its joy flights operation to Sea World Helicopters Pty Ltd in 2019. The inquest has heard Village Roadshow still had some involvement in the helicopter operation through ticket sales, audits, and staff drug and alcohol testing.
Here is everything you need to know about why the inquest is taking place and the key points raised so far.
Damning report
The inquest came in the wake of the damning final report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, detailing the litany of failures that led to the crash.
Limitations in visibility from both helicopters, failed radio transmissions and competing priorities when looking at boats and other aircraft led to the mid-air crash, the report found.
The two-year investigation showed issues at Sea World Helicopters, ultimately leading to the fatal crash, began years earlier when the ownership changed and safety protocols deteriorated.
New helicopters were introduced a week before the crash and were not fitted with company radio communications and no real-time maps of other helicopters.
Emergency workers inspecting the crashed helicopter at the scene on January 2, 2023(Image: Dave Hunt/AAP Image via AP)
These changes and others to the company’s operations undermined risk controls, the safety bureau’s commissioner Angus Mitchell said.
Days before the crash, one of the helicopter’s radios stopped broadcasting transmissions due to a fault with the antenna, an issue not known to the pilots.
On the fateful day, an inbound radio call from one of the helicopters failed to register to the second chopper boarding people on the helipad.
The lack of technology to identify other helicopters and the radio failures meant pilots relied entirely on a see-and-avoid strategy, but with poor visibility it led to the crash.
Survivor ‘screamed for help’
The inquest, which started on November 24, is examining critical issues surrounding the crash. Winnie De Silva, one of the survivors, gave a harrowing account of being trapped under the helicopter that crashed.
Ms De Silva could not recall the helicopter hitting the ground but did remember being helplessly trapped under the aircraft and yelling for help. She said: “There was hot machinery on my body. I was screaming and screaming.
Ms De Silva was told when nearby “boaties” arrived that her son was safe. She said: “I asked what was on me. They said aviation fuel. I asked them to pull me out but they said I was trapped.”
Pilot tested positive for cocaine
A key moment in the inquest came on November 26, when it was revealed that Mr Jenkinson tested positive for cocaine metabolites at his autopsy. The inquest was told daily drug tests were not carried out on the helicopter operator’s pilots.
Sea World Helicopters had a 10-year agreement to run joy flights after taking over from Village Roadshow Theme Parks on the Gold Coast in 2019.
The helicopter company had continued a policy of having pilots breath tested for alcohol by Sea World staff before every shift, Village head of operations Llewella McNabb told the inquest in Brisbane. However they were not drug tested before every shift, the coroner was told.
On December 2, the coroner heard that Mr Jenkinson tested positive to cocaine during an autopsy, although an Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation found he was “unlikely to have been directly affected by the drug at the time of the accident”.
The pilot was seen inhaling multiple lines of cocaine, and drinking 12 beers and whiskey, at a New Year’s Eve party, less than 48 hours before the crash.
Floral tributes outside Concept Interiors in Neston, Wirral which was owned by Ron and Diane Hughes, in January 2023(Image: Liverpool Echo)
He had a lower level of cocaine metabolites than most people who crashed in vehicles, Victoria’s chief forensic toxicologist Dimitri Gerostamoulos testified.
Dr Gerostamoulos said: “I can’t come to the conclusion that he was impaired or not. It is likely given the consumption of alcohol and cocaine within that period.”
Mr Jenkinson tested negative to alcohol before starting work on the day of the crash and negative at a random drug test in August 2022.
He flew six passenger joy flights and had lunch with workmates before his last and fatal take-off just before 2pm, Ms Lee heard.
Katherine Robinson, Queensland Health senior forensic physician, said Mr Jenkinson’s lack of obvious intoxication at that time was not reassuring in itself. She said: “The subtle and fine signs of impairment are only detected through assessment by people looking to test for them.”
Mr Jenkinson signed a form saying he was fit to fly but might not have been aware of his own impairment, the inquest was told.
Australian Army aviation medical officer Jeffrey Brock said testimony from witnesses about Mr Jenkinson’s drug and alcohol use, opportunities for sleep and levels of workplace stress had shifted his opinion.
Dr Brock said: “To me, the likelihood of impairment during flying on the day of the accident has gone from possibility to probability.”
But forensic pharmacologist Judith Perl testified that this claim was instead possible, not probable. Dr Perl said: “It would lead me to suspect whatever cocaine he used was pretty poor quality.”
Ms Lee has adjourned the inquest to February to hear from further witnesses.
Separate injury lawsuit blocked – for now
Sea World owner, Village Roadshow Theme Parks, sold its joy flights operation to Sea World Helicopters in 2019.
A teenage boy whose mother was killed in the Sea World helicopter collision has now joined some other survivors in preparing personal injury lawsuits against Village Roadshow.
Nicholas Tadros and his dad Simon Tadros, son and husband of Vanessa, joined with five other people affected by the tragedy to make applications to Brisbane District Court on Thursday, December 18. But judge Ken Barlow has ordered the personal injury applications not to proceed until the inquest has concluded.
Ciaran Ehrich, a lawyer representing the crash survivors, said his clients had to make claims within three years of the crash under Queensland’s Personal Injuries Proceedings Act.
Mr Ehrich said: “There’s disappointment that the inquest was adjourned but there’s an understanding that it’s not an easy process. My clients would like (the inquest) done properly and if the parties need further time, so be it…to ensure the actual evidence comes out.”
The Tadros family and several other people have in the past two weeks filed personal injury claims against Sea World Helicopters Pty Ltd in the Queensland Supreme Court.
The inquest into the crash will resume in February.