Lieutenant Marcus Case was killed in a helicopter crash.
Lieutenant Marcus Case, 26, was 'ramp riding' in the back of a Chinook helicopter Brahman 1/2, which was carrying five other officers on May 30 last year on a trip to recover an American Black Hawk.
The nose of the helicopter began surging up and down, a phenomenon known as 'porpoising', and Lt Case fell out of the aircraft, still attached to it by a strap, before it hit the ground and caught fire.
Lt Case was not an authorized crew member on the flight and was not a qualified as a pilot, aircrewman or an aircrewman technician on the Chinook helicopter, a commission of inquiry heard on Monday.
He and Sergeant Andrew Harvey were 'ramp riding' - sitting on the aircraft's rear ramp with their feet dangling over the edge - contrary to a directive from the Deputy Chief of Army.
'While it may be necessary for Sergeant Harvey, as the aircrewman technician, to assume this position so that he might operate the equipment mounted on the rear ramp, the positioning of Lieutenant Case on the ramp will be a matter for consideration of this commission,' lead counsel assisting the commission, Colonel Gary Hevey, said.
The helicopter began porpoising about 3.5 hours into the flight and did so four times before the crash.
'As the aircraft flipped through that fourth oscillation, so that it was 100 degrees to 110 degrees nose-down, it is believed that Lieutenant Case may have come into contact with the bottom of the aircraft,' Col Hevey said.
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