Flight path taken by B.C. pilot before crash not authorized: Sydney Seaplanes owner
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's preliminary report ruled out bird strike, contaminated fuel problems
The owner of a seaplane that crashed off the coast of Australia on New Year's Eve says the flight path taken by the B.C. pilot was not authorized.
Forty-four-year-old Gareth Morgan of North Vancouver was killed along with his five British passengers when the de Havilland Beaver crashed near Sydney.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released a preliminary report Wednesday ruling out a bird strike, contaminated fuel and the plane breaking up in flight, but does not suggest a likely cause of the crash.
Sydney Seaplanes CEO Aaron Shaw says the key question is why Morgan was flying in a bay surrounded by steep terrain that had no exit and why an experienced pilot suddenly entered a steep right turn before the plane nosedived into the water.
The plane had an earlier fatal crash in 1996 while operating as a crop duster in rural Australia that was blamed on the pilot stalling the aircraft.