Pilot Ash 'Jenko' Jenkinson with his wife Kosha. Photo / Facebook
Pilot Ash 'Jenko' Jenkinson with his wife Kosha. Photo / Facebook
The widow of the pilot killed during the SeaWorld chopper crash received a fine notice addressed to her husband – seven days after he was killed.
Ash Jenkinson died alongside British newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes and Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros when the helicopter he was flying collided with anothermid-air on January 2.
Police will allege a 33-year-old woman used the personal details in Ash Jenkinson’s obituary to pin a driving offence on the late pilot, the Courier Mail reports.
The woman was allegedly caught using her mobile phone while driving in December.
The fine notice was sent out three weeks later – a week after Jenkinson had been killed in the horror crash.
The beloved pilot was hailed as a hero in the days after the crash, with tributes flooding in for a man who selflessly gave his time to support people in need.
During the 2022 flood crisis in NSW and Queensland, Jenkinson volunteered his time carrying essential supplies to people whose homes and lives were devastated during the event.
He was farewelled by hundreds in a heartbreaking funeral in which his fiancee Kosha Richardson-Johnson said the couple always said goodbye “like it was the last day, every day, just in case it was”.
“My heart is broken with the loss of my present and future with this man,” she said.
He is survived by his 1-year-old son Kayden.
SeaWorld helicopter crash
The families of the crash victims and survivors received some long-awaited answers earlier this month when a preliminary investigation into the cause of the crash was released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
The loved ones could do nothing but watch as the five-minute joyride helicopter turned into tragedy within seconds.
Chief commissioner of ATSB Angus Mitchell said the pilot of the helicopter coming in to land did not recall receiving a taxi call from the other pilot over the radio to announce an intention to take off.
“This does not necessarily mean that a taxi call was not made, and the ATSB investigation will undertake a detailed analysis of the nature of the radio calls made,” Mitchell noted.
Investigators revealed in the days after the crash that the rotor blade of the helicoptertaking off - piloted by Jenkinson - smashed into the front window of the landing helicopter, causing its blades to rip out and sending the helicopter plummeting to the ground.
In the landing helicopter, the pilot miraculously managed to land without clear vision through the front windscreen - saving all four passengers on board.
