Reality TV celebrity Matt Wright displayed a ‘cavalier’ attitude in operating his helicopter from his home to the annoyance of neighbours, a judge has said, before imposing a $10,000 fine for breaching the rules.

The Outback Wrangler star, who is in jail for trying to pervert the course of justice following a fatal chopper crash, pleaded guilty to one count of contravening a development permit.

His lawyer Luke Officer asked Judge Greg Macdonald in the Darwin Local Court on Monday to show leniency to his client whose Supreme Court trial had been ‘financially devastating’ for him.

The judge said Wright had been issued an enforcement notice not to fly choppers to and from his home but he intentionally contravened that on April 26, 2024.

His offending was ‘egregious, cavalier, indicative of someone who might be said to be thumbing their nose’.

‘Landing helicopters in residential areas, albeit five-acre blocks, would be quite disturbing and disruptive to the peace of the neighbourhood,’ Judge Macdonald said, noting a childcare centre was less than 500 metres away.

The judge said that in April 2024 the defendant’s world was ‘crumbling into a quagmire’ of legal conflict and dispute.

He noted Wright’s contributions to the community along with glowing character references given at his Supreme Court sentencing.

Before imposing the $10,000 fine the judge observed Wright had suffered a ‘spectacular fall from grace’ and said leniency was appropriate.

Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright was fined $10,000 on Monday after he pleaded guilty to contravening a development permit

The judge described Matt Wright’s offending as ‘egregious, cavalier, indicative of someone who might be said to be thumbing their nose’. Wright is pictured with his wife Kaia

Wright’s neighbours complained to the Development Consent Authority in 2021, fed up at having noisy choppers landing and taking off near their bushland homes at Virginia, 30km from Darwin.

Wright appealed the authority’s enforcement notice to the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal, claiming he had the right to use his choppers ‘like a motor car’, but the tribunal disagreed.

The 46-year-old was not required to appear in court from jail on Monday.

Wright was in prison and had lost his air operating certificate and pilot’s licence so there would be no repeat offending, Mr Officer said.

‘He can’t fly a helicopter any more and he’s sold his property.’

Wright had run several successful tourism businesses but was now down to two operations after his costly Supreme Court trial, his lawyer said.

When asked by the judge what capacity Wright had to pay a fine, Mr Officer replied ‘very little’.

Wright (pictured with his wife) was issued an enforcement notice not to fly choppers to and from his home which he intentionally contravened in April 2024

Wright remains behind bars for trying to pervert the course of justice following a fatal chopper crash which killed mate Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson

In the Supreme Court in December Acting Justice Alan Blow sentenced Wright to 10 months in prison on two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice, suspended after he serves five months.

Wright lost his best mate and co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson in a February 2022 chopper crash that left pilot Sebastian Robinson a paraplegic.

It happened during a crocodile-egg collecting trip in Arnhem Land while Mr Wilson was slung on a line below a chopper to drop onto nests in remote swampland.

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.

On August 29, a jury found Wright guilty on the first two counts but could not reach agreement on the third torching accusation.

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

The prosecution did not allege Wright caused the chopper crash, the death of Mr Wilson or Mr Robinson’s injuries.

Wright plans to appeal the convictions.