The Goulburn Flight Training Centre and its director, Attilio Giovanni Ferrara, also known as John Ferrara, have found themselves in a legal bind as SafeWork NSW brought charges against them. Both Ferrara and the center face two counts each for allegedly failing to uphold workplace safety standards.
In a recent court session, Judge Andrew Scotting highlighted the peril posed by a makeshift step, describing it as a “clear and hazardous snag risk.”
During the sentencing hearing, Frank Hoare, whose son was involved in the tragic incident, directed his gaze towards Ferrara across the courtroom’s stark interior.
Despite the tragedy, Hoare expressed that he harbored “no animosity” towards Ferrara or Jim Czerwinski, the pilot responsible for both installing the step and flying the aircraft on that fateful day.
Speaking in a subdued voice, Hoare remarked, “Ultimately, there was no intent.”
The families affected by the incident endured nearly five years of waiting for answers, a span that Hoare noted seemed to dismiss the significance of their loved ones’ lives.
“Losing our son … has shattered our lives in ways that words have never fully captured,” Hoare said.
“He was not just a name or statistic; he was our son and our joy.
“Every day [since] his death has been filled with a silence that should not exist and a grief that does not lessen with time.”
Hoare hoped the accident would lead to meaningful safety changes in the skydiving industry.
He called on the state coroner to hold an inquest so that formal recommendations could be made.
SafeWork’s barrister, Darien Nagle, urged the judge to consider the scale of the avoidable tragedy.
“The risk was avoidable, the risk was known,” Nagle said.
Evidence at the trial included a short GoPro video taken by a third solo skydiver, showing Welling grinning as he moved towards the open door of the plane while strapped to Hoare.
The footage showed a black strap getting caught on the protruding step, leaving the pair frantically dangling upside-down mid-air.
The pilot attempted several manoeuvres to free the men, including flying low over the airport while staff on the ground stood on top of a four-wheel drive to try and grab them.
The men fell when the plane returned to a higher altitude.
Ferrara made a “sincere and unqualified” apology to the men’s families in an affidavit read to the court.
Judge Scotting offered his condolences, saying he lost his sister in tragic circumstances.
“I understand that pain perhaps better than you might appreciate,” the judge said.
Ferrara will be sentenced on April 17.
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