A seaplane pilot who crashed near Sydney on New Year’s Eve was more than half a mile off the authorised route when the plane turned sharply right and nosedived into a river, killing him and his five British passengers.
Canadian-born Gareth Morgan was flying the group - Richard Cousins, chief executive of British catering giant Compass Group, his two sons, his fiance Emma Bowden and her daughter - back to the city from a waterside restaurant when the DHC-2 Beaver aircraft went down.
The plan was “dramatically” off course when it plunged, in “a near vertical position”, into Jerusalem Bay, on the Hawkesbury River, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Nat Nagy, executive director of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, says a key part of the investigation will be determining why the pilot made the fatal turn. Nagy told reporter that the cause of the accident may never be known, says Reuters.
There is no evidence of a bird strike or collision, and small aircraft do not need to have a voice or flight data recorder on board, the BBC reports.
According to ABC News, the boss of Sydney Seaplanes, the operator of the crashed aircraft, said that “the plane simply should not have been where it was”.
The pilot was experienced and had flown the authorised route “hundreds of times before”, said chief executive Aaron Shaw. “A turn of this nature at low altitude by a pilot with Gareth’s skills, experience and intimate knowledge of the location is totally inexplicable.”
-
Groypers: the alt-right group pulled into the foregroundThe Explainer The network is led by alt-right activist Nick Fuentes
-
10 concert tours to see this upcoming fallThe Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
How to put student loan payments on pauseThe Explainer If you are starting to worry about missing payments, deferment and forbearance can help
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across SyriaTHE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weaponsThe Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarrayIn the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
