Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright to appeal guilty verdict over fatal Northern Territory chopper crash

Lawyers for reality TV star Matt Wright are set to appeal a jury’s finding that he tried to pervert the course of justice after a fatal helicopter crash.

The Outback Wrangler star lost his best mate and co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson in a February 2022 crash that left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.

The crash occurred during a crocodile egg-collecting trip in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory when Mr Wilson was slung on a line below a chopper to drop onto nests in remote swampland.

Lawyers for Wright are expected to lodge appeals in the Supreme Court in Darwin on Friday before Acting Justice Alan Blow.

Wright was accused of lying to crash investigators about the amount of fuel in the machine, of trying to get Mr Robinson to falsify flying hours and of asking a friend to “torch” the helicopter’s maintenance release.

In August, a Supreme Court jury in Darwin found Wright guilty on the first two counts but could not reach an agreement on the third count regarding the “torch” claim.

Prosecutors alleged Wright was worried investigators would learn his choppers’ flying-hour meters were regularly disconnected to extend flying hours beyond official thresholds and paperwork was falsified to match.

Wright has been granted bail ahead of a sentencing hearing later in the year.

Outside the court, Wright told reporters following his guilty verdicts that there were “no winners” from the trial.

“The ordeal has been incredibly tough on everyone and it’s always been hard to understand why the focus of these investigations have been solely on me and not into the cause of the crash,” he said at the time.

Prosecutors have indicated they will be seeking a term of imprisonment for Wright.

Ms Wilson is pursuing a civil case against Wright and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority over the crash that killed her husband.