An army chaplain has rejected suggestions he told a grieving widow to consider her "future partner" when making funeral plans for her husband, who was killed in a training exercise.

The independent inquiry reopened in Sydney on Monday, for a fourth phase of public hearings examining the circumstances of a 2023 Australian Army MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crash in North Queensland.

The crash claimed the lives of Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Corporal Alexander Naggs and Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock.

The airmen were conducting night flying drills as part of multi-national defence exercise Talisman Sabre and were flying in formation with three other helicopters — the crews of which watched their colleagues plummet into the water.

In opening the Sydney sessions, former judge Margaret McMurdo — who is leading the inquiry on behalf of the inspector-general of the Australian Defence Force — acknowledged it had been almost exactly one year since the men were killed on July 28, 2023.

"I again extend the inquiry's deepest sympathy to the families and colleagues of the deceased air crew, who are always at the forefront of our work," Ms McMurdo said.

Wife asked not to hold funeral on Father's Day

The inquiry heard army Chaplain Bruce Hammonds — otherwise known as Padre Bruce — was tasked with providing pastoral care to the families of each of the airmen who died, including conducting their funeral services.

The father-in-law of Captain Lyon, Ronald Curnow detailed a handful of interactions he had with the chaplain that he felt were insensitive in the wake of the tragedy.

"I felt there was a rush to get [the funerals] over and done with," Mr Curnow said.

"Caitland [Captain Lyon's wife] was feeling more and more pressure … that she was being rushed."

Mr Hammonds, in his own evidence, rejected suggestions he told the family that Captain Lyon's army unit needed to get back to being "operational".

"The [helicopters] had been grounded, so there was no chance of them being operational," Mr Hammonds said.

"But it was the final of the four [funerals] … for the sake of the family, they needed the closure that a funeral brings."

The inquiry heard on one occasion, Mr Hammonds arrived unannounced at Mrs Lyon's home on a Friday evening — while she had friends and family over for dinner — to urge her not to hold the funeral on Father's Day.

He told the inquiry Mr Hammond also said a Father's Day funeral service would "dishonour" him, as Mrs Lyon's own father, because the day was about celebrating fatherhood.

Mr Hammond told the hearing he wanted to "honour" Mr Curnow as "part of the argument for not having it on Father's Day" and rejected the suggestion he referred to a "future partner".

"I said 'we don't know what happens in the future, but the decisions we make today will have implications for the future'," he told the inquiry.

Mrs Lyon gave emotional evidence to the inquiry earlier this year, detailing the impact her husband's death had had on their two young children.

The inquiry heard that on several occasions Captain Lyon's name was misspelled on documents and a quilt made by volunteers — which his grieving family said they were then left to have rectified themselves.

Mr Curnow said the family was further devastated on Anzac Day this year — the first since Captain Lyon's death — when his name was not read aloud on the honour roll at the Holsworthy Barracks dawn service, despite assurances it would be.

"We were waiting to hear their names … but they never read out any of the boys' names," Mr Curnow said.

The inquiry is scheduled to sit in Sydney for two weeks, hearing evidence from family members, defence, police and expert witnesses.

Its goal is to determine the cause and circumstances of the tragedy.