The pilot of a doomed flight which left him and a family of five British tourists dead didn’t have time to make a mayday call before the plane ploughed into a Sydney river.
Experienced pilot Gareth Morgan, 44, died when the single-engine 1964 Beaver seaplane nosedived and plunged into Jerusalem Bay on New Years Eve.
Also killed were UK businessman Richard Cousins, 58, his sons, Edward and William Cousins, aged 23 and 25, his fiancee Emma Bowden, 48, and her daughter, Heather Bowden-Page, 11.
Experienced pilot Gareth Morgan, 44, died when the single-engine 1964 Beaver seaplane nosedived and plunged into Jerusalem Bay on New Years Eve
Emma Bowden and her young daughter Heather (pictured together) died in the accident in the Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney, on Sunday
‘Accidents like this are most unusual,’ Kevin Bowe of the Seaplane Pilots Association Australia told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Bowe said the type of aircraft involved in the crash is considered safer than other small planes because of its capacity to land on water in an emergency.
‘But if you get a situation like this and it nosedives, it goes straight to the bottom,’ he said.
In that situation the water pressure would make it impossible to open any doors or windows.
Sydney Seaplanes has suspended all flights indefinitely in the wake of the tragedy.
The company’s CEO Aaron Shaw hasn’t ruled out engine failure as the cause but said it was more likely the plane stalled.
He said it was believed the experienced pilot had not made a mayday call before the crash.
The plane has not yet been recovered from the crash site at Cowan and is sitting about 13 metres below the surface.
It will need to be refloated until forensic investigators can piece together exactly what went wrong.
Mr Cousins’ sons Ed, 23, and Will, 25, (left to right) were also killed along with experience pilot Gareth Morgan, 44, when the plane crashed
The body of a passenger recovered from the downed seaplane that crashed on Sunday killing six people is carried by police and paramedics
The family had flown from Rose Bay near Sydney harbour to Cottage Point for lunch in an exclusive restaurant. The plane then crashed shortly after starting their return journey back to Sydney for the evening fireworks