A survivor of a filmed aerial stunt gone wrong says his scrambled headspace clouded his recollection of the fatal incident.
Pilot Stephen Gale, 56, and cameraman James Rose, 30, were killed when the Viper S-211 plane they were in nosedived into Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay during a formation flight with another Viper in November 2023.
They were filming to promote a mooted TV program, Any Fool Can Fly, when the former fighter jets collided about 12km west of Mount Martha, on the Mornington Peninsula.
Their plane had attempted an aerobatic manoeuvre passing underneath the other plane, which was flying inverted, to get footage when their right wings clipped each other and led to them plummeting into the water.
The bodies of both men were later found off Mornington in the wreckage of their plane, known as Viper 2, submerged in 24 metres of water.
The other aircraft, Viper 1, and its two pilots on board landed safely at Essendon Airport after making a mayday call.
On Monday, surviving pilot Peter Clements gave evidence at an inquest into the fatal flight.
He was asked about the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's final investigation report that found the operator didn't hold the required operating certificate to undertake the filming flight and the aircraft were not permitted to be used for that purpose.
Mr Clements pushed back against the suggestion, saying his "scrambled headspace" following a traumatic event led him to refer to Mr Rose as a cameraman on the flight.
"James on that flight didn't go as cameraman, he went on as a joyflight," Mr Clements told Melbourne Coroners Court.
He also denied the possibility owner Mr Gale could have asked him to capture video subsequently.
"Stephen is a straight shooter. He knew the restrictions. There's no way he would've done it and not told me," he said.
"Because we were just using Go-Pro footage, we were legal to put the flight in private category."
He also maintained it was not a filming flight because no money was exchanged.
The ATSB report also found the inverted pass manoeuvre had not been briefed before the flight and a subsequent in-flight discussion of the manoeuvre did not allow for full consideration of associated risks before a second attempt was commenced.
But Mr Clements disputed that.
"The brief was sufficient, there's nothing else I needed to put in there. He had freedom of movement and the deal is that he misses us," he said.
"Less is best sometimes in this dynamic environment."
Shortly before November 2023, production company Blackfox Media expressed interest in Mr Gale's long-held vision for the realty TV project and a decision was made to put together a promotional video of aerobatic formations to market the show.
The hearing continues.
