The family and friends of four army personnel who died in a helicopter crash during military exercises have delivered emotional tributes as the search continues for their lost loved ones.

An MRH-90 Taipan chopper crashed off the north Queensland coast during the multinational Exercise Talisman Sabre last week.

Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class Two Joseph Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs are all missing and presumed dead after their helicopter hit the water off Hamilton Island.

The family of 24-year-old Lieutenant Nugent, from Sydney’s north, remembered him as a larrikin who got to live his dream of flying with the army.

“Max was tough – if somebody told him he couldn’t do something, he took it as a challenge and persisted with unshakable determination until he had proved them wrong,” they said in a statement.

Warrant Officer Laycock’s parents said his two loves in life were his military career and his three sons.

“Outside of his army career, Phillip was a devoted father and enthusiastic mountain biker,” they said.

“We are immensely proud of the high esteem in which he was held by his mates and superiors.”

Captain Lyon was remembered as a beloved husband, devoted father of two and great mate.

“Danniel’s smile could brighten even the darkest days,” his family said.

“His light shone so brightly we cannot imagine a world without it.”

Corporal Naggs was described as “an inspiration to his family and those around him” by his partner, who added that everyone was heartbroken to lose him so soon.

While much of the aircraft including major sections of the fuselage have been recovered, a significant multinational operation remains under way to locate the bodies of the missing airmen.

Joint operations chief Lieutenant General Greg Bilton said the defence force’s focus remained on “bringing our people home to their families and supporting the defence family through this difficult period”.

In an emotional speech to federal parliament, Queensland MP and Afghanistan veteran Phillip Thompson said he had the honour of serving with Corporal Naggs and described him as “the nicest, kindest person I’ve ever met”.

“Someone that was just there, listening, would talk to everyone,” he said.

The tributes come as the government works on a replacement fleet for the troubled Taipan helicopters.

The crash was the second incident involving a Taipan helicopter this year after another of the aircraft ditched into the water off the New South Wales south coast in March during a training exercise.

The former Coalition government announced in 2021 the fleet would be replaced by Black Hawks.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Taipans would remain grounded until the Queensland incident was investigated, but he did not want to raise expectations of a quicker Black Hawk rollout.

“It is both a question of having the airframes come to Australia, but also a question of making sure that all the appropriate training and credentialling is done for those who operate the Black Hawks so that that can be done in a safe way,” he said.

The Taipans are due to come out of service at the end of 2024.

Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie, who flew in Black Hawks when he was with the Special Air Service Regiment, said the new aircraft “can’t come soon enough”.

He said the Taipan was not an inherently unsafe aircraft, but it was so “magnificently engineered” it was hard for the army to get the required hours out of it.

-AAP