Victorian plane crash victims identified
Three young men have been killed after a light plane crash in eastern Victoria at around 5.45pm on Saturday.
Pilot Luke Smith, 20, his younger brother Ben Smith, 16, and their cousin Dustin Daly, 15, were on board the plane when it crashed into a paddock and burst into flames at Tinamba West in east Gippsland.
They were only 15 minutes into the flight, which took off from West Sale airport, when the tragic incident occurred.
The plane was reportedly seen circling several times, with witnesses saying they heard a strange sound coming from the aircraft in the moments before the crash.
“From accounts that I’ve seen, there may have been circling or manoeuvring to resolve that issue or to try to find somewhere to land and unfortunately, that has happened,” Aviation Projects managing director Keith Tonkin said.
Luke Smith has held a pilot licence since 2022 and was also an instructor. His aviation consultant and flying instructor Lorraine MacGillivray has paid tribute to the three young men.
“They were all absolutely delightful human beings, and so this is a terrible loss,” MacGillivray said.
“The conversations I had with him, he was diligent and he was committed and he was passionate about his flying,” MacGillivray said.
“He was also a flight instructor.”
The brothers were also heavily involved in the Tongala football and cricket clubs, who have since offered counselling to the grieving regional community.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating the crash, with a team of investigators specialising aircraft operations and maintenance looking into what happened.
The ATSB described the plane as "amateur-built light aircraft" and will examine the wreckage, interview witnesses and comb through flight tracking data to try and determine what went wrong.
“We’ll start looking at the records of the plane itself, and maintenance records and pilot qualifications and the actual tasking or the nature of the flight itself,” ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said.
Witnesses who saw the incident or anyone who has photos or videos of the plane have been asked to come forward.
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