Father of man killed in skydiving accident holds ‘no animosity’ against man guilty over accident

SafeWork NSW has accused the Goulburn Flight Training Center and its sole director, Attilio Giovanni Ferrara, known as John Ferrara, of breaching workplace safety duties.

Judge Andrew Scotting ruled that the fabricated step posed a “clear and dangerous problem”.

At a sentencing hearing today, Hoare’s father, Frank, looked across the sparse courtroom at Ferrara.

Hoare said he harbored “no animosity” toward Ferrara or Jim Czerwinski, the pilot who installed the step and flew the plane that day.

“In the end there was no foul play,” Hoare said calmly.

The men’s families waited four years and 10 months for answers about the accident, a delay that felt like a dismissal of their lost lives, Hoare said.

“The loss of our son… has devastated our lives in a way that words have never been able to fully express,” Hoare said.

“He wasn’t just a name or a statistic; he was our son and our joy.

“Every day [since] His death is filled with a silence that should not exist and a sadness that does not diminish 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 formal recommendations could be made.

SafeWork’s attorney, Darien Nagle, urged the judge to consider the magnitude of the preventable 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, which showed Welling grinning as he walked to the open door of the plane while strapped to Hoare.

The footage showed a black strap becoming stuck on the protruding step, leaving the pair frantically dangling upside down in the air.

The pilot tried several maneuvers to free the men, including flying low over the airfield while personnel on the ground stood atop a four-wheel drive to grab them.

The men fell as the plane returned to a higher altitude.

Ferrara made a “sincere and unconditional” apology to the men’s families in an affidavit in court.

Judge Scotting offered his condolences and said he had lost his sister in tragic circumstances.

“I understand that pain perhaps better than you might realize,” the judge said.

Ferrara will be sentenced on April 17.

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