The inquiry into a deadly Newfoundland helicopter crash heard emotional testimony Wednesday from surviving family members who called on industry to prevent future tragedies.

Paul Pike, 49, of Spaniard's Bay, N.L., was one of 17 passengers to die on board the Sikorsky S-92A helicopter that plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean on March 12, 2009.

His wife, Sharon Pike, told the inquiry Wednesday that her husband would still be alive if the chopper's manufacturer and local oil companies had heeded prior warnings about problems with the downed aircraft.

"He did not have to lose his life, he did not have to die in such a horrific way," Pike told the inquiry held in St. John's, N.L., brushing away tears as she spoke.

The Cougar Helicopters-owned aircraft was ferrying oil workers to an offshore rig when it suddenly lost control in the North Atlantic. It crashed in the ocean about 60 kilometres east of St. John's. Only one person, Robert Decker, who testified before the inquiry last November, survived the crash.

On Wednesday, Pike called on the companies involved -- including Cougar, Sikorsky and the oil companies themselves -- to make safety a higher priority in the future.

"If these companies had acted upon the warning they had when the helicopter was forced to land in Australia in July 2008 and fixed the problem with the gearbox immediately, rather than allowing for a time frame of one year or 1,250 flying hours, Paul would be with his children and me today.

"Someone in one of these companies should've taken this situation more seriously."

NTV reporter Michael Connors said Pike was one of four family members to testify Wednesday, all of whom voiced a similar message about the deadly crash.

Each of those who testified made it clear that "they believe that this disaster did not need to happen," Connors told CTV News Channel from St. John's.

"They believe that if all the parties had heeded safety warnings earlier on, that their loved ones would still be alive today."

Grief and loss

Those who lost family members in the tragedy say their lives haven't been the same since the crash.

Pike said she could not articulate the emotional pain her family has endured since her husband's death.

"Words cannot express the devastation our family feels," she said.

Alicia Nash told the inquiry she and her late father, Burch, were "the closest a father and daughter can be."

"I was daddy's little girl, everything I did in life was to make him proud," Nash said through tears.

Burch Nash, who lived in the Burin Peninsula community of Fortune, N.L., was 44 years old when he died in the crash.

"The one person I looked up to the most, and the one person who gave me all the advice I needed, the one person I called my hero was gone," Alicia Nash said.

She said it breaks her heart to know that her dad won't be able to attend her graduation from Memorial University later this year.

Lori Chynn lost her husband, 41-year-old John Pelley, with whom she shared "a wonderful life."

"I have lost a wonderful and caring husband and John's mother has lost her precious son. We all have been robbed," Chynn told the inquiry.

The ongoing inquiry into the deadly crash is probing issues of worker safety and is being led by retired judge Robert Wells.

The judge's report on the first phase of the inquiry is likely to be ready in the fall, Connors said.

With files from The Canadian Press