(The Coroner) Mrs Baldwin was scathing about the evidence of aircraft manufacturing chief executive Michael O'Sullivan, of Supermarine Aircraft Pty Ltd.
She said he had covered up the aircraft's excessive weight with "knowingly falsified documents" so he could register the plane under the less stringent requirements of Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus), which administered registrations of ultra light and light sports aircraft.
Mrs Baldwin recommended RA-Aus introduce a system of random checks on registration information and impose exemplary punishment on Mr O'Sullivan.
CASA should review its expectations of RA-Aus and conduct random audits. And police should improve procedures to ensure better security for exhibits, she also recommended.
I'm no lawyer, but I suspect that "knowingly falsifying documents" that leads to an innocent persons death will produce accountability in a civil law court.
As far as criminal punishment goes, what is the current penalty for forging aircraft weight documents in an RA-Aus setting? Nothing? If so, then criminal penalties need to be introduced for such falsification.
I have always been intrigued as to how stringent the weight checks are for RA-Aus aircraft. Not very, so it appears.