Sea World helicopter crash: pilot Ashley Jenkinson farewelled in funeral on the Gold Coast
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Pilot Ashley Jenkinson has been fired by his heartbroken loved ones, eleven days after he was killed in the Gold Coast Sea World helicopter tragedy.
Hundreds of mourners packed into Southport’s Christ Church at 2pm Friday to say goodbye to the 40-year-old father-of-one who died along with three passengers when their helicopter collided with another in midair.
Mr. Jenkinson’s fiancée, Kosha, and her one-year-old son, Kayden, sat in front of the church, next to his white coffin, which was festooned with white flowers.
The service began with the pastor telling the crowd that they had gathered today to remember Mr. Jenkinson’s “infectious smile, kind heart and good humor,” before Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open” was played.
The service heard how Ash was a doting father and ‘true hero’, who offered his flying services to help people in need of supplies during natural disasters, with a ‘big heart’ and ‘infectious energy’.
Mourners greet each other outside Southport Christ Church on Friday for the funeral of Sea World helicopter pilot Ashley Jenkinson.
Sea World Helicopter Chief Pilot Ash ‘Jenko’ Jenkinson, 40, died in the helicopter crash (pictured with his fiancee, Kosha)
‘Ash, you may be gone, but you will always be remembered. Your memory lives on in the memories of those who had the privilege of knowing you,’ said the pastor.
‘Rest in peace Ash, your wings were ready, but our hearts weren’t.’
The pastor read a speech written by Kosha, recalling how her friend Kate, who was her roommate, introduced her to Mr. Jenkinson.
“She was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to introduce you to my housemate because he’s going to fall for you,'” Kosha recalled.
She walked up to me and hugged me, kissed me on the cheek, and said, “Kate was right. You’re beautiful.”
‘The second time we met, Ash said ‘you’re just as beautiful as I remembered the first time’.’
Kosha said she was having a hard time when she met Ash, but he, always a gentleman, would cook for her and leave flowers at work to cheer her up.
Five years earlier, Kosha said she had seen a psychic who told her, “You will meet a man with a helicopter, and he will love you forever.”
“And when I met Ash, I was like wow, this is him,” Kosha said.
Mourners embrace as they arrive for Mr Jenkinson’s funeral on Friday.
Several men showed up at the funeral on Harley Davidsons, lining them up outside the church.
Mr. Jenkinson was an experienced helicopter pilot who had been flying for almost 16 years.
The last time they were together, Kosha said she kissed him goodbye as if it were the last day they would see each other, a ritual they did each time they were apart.
She said she takes comfort in knowing that the last thing they said to each other was ‘I love you.’
Mr. Jenkinson’s older and younger brothers, Miles and Blaze, fought back tears as they remembered him as a child who wouldn’t sit still because he was always “finishing” items.
They said their ‘mechanical mind’ saved them when their RV broke down during a road trip adventure when they were younger.
Miles said his brother saw a helicopter while working in a bar in England and it was “love or obsession at first sight”, sparking his passion to embark on a career as a pilot.
“To say that fatherhood completed Ash is an understatement,” said Miles, “Kayden’s eyes would light up every time he saw his father.”
Not many kids can say they’ve been in a helicopter. It’s a memory we’ll always share with Kayden so he can remember that he was a superhero.
Miles said they were inspired to live their lives to the fullest as their ‘strong and fearless’ brother every day.
“We didn’t have enough time with you, but 40 years of memories will always be remembered,” Miles said.
You were the best brother we could have wished for.
You will always be our hero.
A group of Mr. Jenkinson’s loved ones walk with two children to the pilot’s funeral.
Two women looked sad as they waited to enter the chapel on Friday.
Two men hug each other dressed in black as they gather to pay their respects to the ‘top gun’ pilot
Three women and two men embraced when they met outside the church.
Kayden ran across the stage, clapping and mingling with the guest as the service was in procession.
A photo slideshow showed Ash as a child with his brother, flying across the country to help flood victims, proposing to Kosha and rocking their newborn son.
As the ceremony drew to a close, loved ones carried Mr. Jenkinson’s coffin out of the church to the Foofighters’ ‘My Hero’.
Mourners filed out of the church behind them and could be seen embracing as Jenkinson’s coffin was loaded into a car to take it to its final resting place.
The experienced pilot had just taken off on the trip around 2pm on January 2 when his plane crashed into a second landing over Gold Coast Broadwater.
Jenkinson died along with British newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes, 65 and 57, and Sydney’s mother Vanessa Tadros, 36, when the helicopter crashed to the ground.
The only three survivors in that helicopter, Winnie de Silva, 33, her son Leon, 9, and Ms Tadros’s son Nicholas, 10, were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
The helicopter that took off is understood to have struck another helicopter above and then plummeted into the sand.
Ms de Silva and her son, who suffered a fractured skull, have since been stabilized, while Nicholas was on life support in critical condition.
The second pilot, Michael James, managed to safely land his plane, saving the lives of his five passengers, which included two couples from New Zealand and a man from Western Australia.
Four of the survivors were hospitalized after suffering glass shrapnel injuries when the lower helicopter’s rotor blades sliced through the cabin.
The Air Transport Safety Bureau began its investigation into the accident and vowed to look into all possible causes of the accident.
Mr Jenkinson grew up in the West Midlands, England, before moving to Australia, where he had a successful racing career of almost 16 years and
After Mr Jenkinson’s death, tributes poured in online as devastated friends remembered the Birmingham-born pilot as a “big gun” with a “kind heart” who delivered much-needed supplies to flood-ravaged parts of New Wales of the South in 2022.
Last week Sea World Helicopters owner John Orr-Campbell issued a tribute remembering Mr Jenkinson as a “first class pilot and a first class man”.
‘I knew Ash personally for nine years. He was a good man and an outstanding pilot with 6,210 flight hours to his name,” Orr-Campbell wrote online.
The Air Transport Safety Office is investigating the cause of the crash earlier this month.
“Losing a man and pilot of Ash’s caliber is shocking in every sense of the word. I, along with the entire staff at Sea World Helicopters, are broken to the core. My heart aches when I think of Ash’s fiancée, Kosha, and her one-year-old son, Kayden.
“I would also like to congratulate the other pilot, Michael James, who heroically brought the second plane to the ground safely. We wish him the best in his recovery.
Orr-Campbell revealed that Jenkinson obtained his commercial pilot’s license in June 2008 and flew helicopters in Western Australia until 2011.
“During this time, Ash showed his love and commitment to the community, participating in multiple search and rescue flights in the area,” he said.
“This community mindset saw him put in over 700 hours and many days away from family and friends to assist with firefighting operations across Australia.”
In 2019, Jenkinson became Chief Pilot for Sea World Helicopters, overseeing all aspects of safety and flight operations.
“We have lost a first class pilot, a first class man and a wonderful father, partner and friend,” Mr. Orr-Campbell wrote.
“RIP Ash, you will always be in our hearts.”