Army training rules have been tightened since the death of special forces soldier Nicholas Kahotea, the man in charge of training says.
Kahotea fell several storeys while training to step from a hovering helicopter onto a building in May 2019.
He died in hospital from his injuries.
Almost seven years later, a coronial inquest into his death would examine what went wrong.
Colonel Paul Hayward, the assistant chief of army for training, was questioned on the intensity of training required of SAS soldiers.
He set out the different levels of training capability expected of soldiers.
"The three descriptors of levels of training we normally use are BLOC, DLOC and OLOC," he said.
"BLOC first is the basic level of capability, initial entry training and some lower-level training courses, DLOC is a directed level of capability, what you would do subsequent to [BLOC] training, and DLOC is where most of the army sits at any given time."
He explained the third level of capability, OLOC, was meant for soldiers preparing to deploy on specific operations.
"Most of the army will not be at OLOC unless they've been specified for a particular mission," he said.
"The difference is the special forces always sit within OLOC, so they sit at a much higher level because of the complexity of what they're required to.
"[They must be] ready to go, they're basically the 111 of the military."
Central to the inquiry was the decision to allow the soldiers to attempt the so-called "bump landing" at nighttime and while wearing heavy equipment.
The coroner was earlier told Kahotea was carrying between 20 and 35kgs of equipment and was wearing night vision goggles as he stepped off the helicopter.
It was the first time the SAS troopers had attempted the manoeuvre, in which a helicopter balanced one wheel on the edge of a building and attempted to hold steady as the soldiers stepped off.
The NZDF's "crawl, walk, run" policy requires soldiers to start with the easiest iteration of an exercise during daylight hours with minimal equipment, before moving onto gradually more difficult scenarios.
In the years since the fatal accident, Colonel Hayward said additions had been made to the army's training rules to ensure the policy was followed.
"They specify in mandatory language some of the requirements down to the number of rehearsals required wearing various kit before an activity can be conducted, they are specified in both the training and safety manual and the mobile air training manual," he said.
In addition, he said the NZDF performed a full assessment of the facility where the training took place, minimising tripping hazards and other potential issues.
Hayward addressed the family and admitted the Defence Force had made a mistake by allowing the training exercise to occur.
"Your loss is profound, and the NZDF deeply regrets the devastating impact that Nik's death has had, and the irreversible consequences of this tragedy," he said.
"NZDF acknowledges failures on our part in relation to the planning and authorising of the activity."
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