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A BRISBANE lawyer said Sea World Helicopters insurers would likely pay millions in compensation following a fatal mid-air collision between two tour choppers on Monday that claimed four lives. Peter Carter of Carter Capner Law is an expert in aircraft accident injury claims, and a qualified pilot. He previously represented those involved in the Lockhart River crash in which 15 people died in 2005.

Mr Carter says surviving passengers and families of deceased passengers would be entitled to up to $925,000 if the crash was found to be accidental or at the fault of Sea World Helicopters, costing the company millions. Because it was a commercial flight in which Sea World Helicopters operate, there’s a limit of $925,000 in compensation, it should be higher but it’s a federal sum that is pegged in that act, which the state act mirrors,” Mr Carter said. It is treated similar or the same as a Qantas plane flying from Brisbane to Gladstone.

The trade off for the $925,000 is you don’t have to prove outright negligence; you have to prove there was an accident but not what the negligence was, that’s the trade-off (for the cap). The liability remains with the carrier.” Family of deceased British newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes could still be entitled to compensation however, they will be bound by Queens-land law. If non-carrier parties were found to be involved or liable for the crash, Mr Carter said compensation totals could climb well past the $925,000 cap.

“If a third party or another company was involved somewhere along the line — not just Sea World Helicopters who sold the ticket — or they found a component fault like an altimeter or some sort of material caused the accident, you can get around that cap,” Mr Carter said. He said bystanders would also have potential claims if they proved to have suffered a “serious psychological injury.

But he warned most would get “very little” money. “For instance, family members at the scene, they would qualify for that type of compensation if psychiatric shock is proven to affect them in the future but again, that’s subject to the maximum $925,000. “Some people get very little, even if they were a passenger and have only minor scars, they could get very little.”