A light plane crash that claimed the life of a young pilot and his single passenger on Christmas Eve last year happened amid severe thunderstorms and lightning strikes, early investigations have revealed.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released its preliminary report on the fatal crash on Monday, detailing the Cessna 210 crash.
The charter flight, carrying a 22-year-old male pilot and a 43-year-old female passenger, left Gove Airport, in north-east Arnhem Land, around 8:17am on December 24 and was scheduled to land in Katherine around 10:24am.
The ATSB report said the plane first came into range of the Bulman telephone tower, about 300 kilometres from Katherine, at 9:14am.
"At 10:44, the operator called the pilot's mobile phone, and then at 10:58 sent a test message seeking confirmation that the flight had arrived at its destination," the report said.
"When the operator did not receive a response, they checked with another company pilot who was stationed at Gove who confirmed that [the plane] had not returned to the departure airport."
Around midday, search and rescue crews were advised the plane was overdue, and around 1:45pm on Christmas Day, the wreckage was found in a remote area of bushland 237 kilometres north-east of Katherine.
Both the pilot and passenger were dead, and the aircraft was destroyed.
Wreckage spread across hundreds of metres
The ATSB's early investigations revealed most of the aircraft wreckage was spread over 80 metres, with one wing found about 300 metres away, indicating it detached from the rest of the plane whilst it was still in the air.
"Severed tree branches and ground scars were consistent with the aircraft having a trajectory of approximately 35 degrees down from horizontal before immediately colliding with terrain," the report said.
"Almost complete fragmentation of the aircraft structure had occurred on impact with trees and terrain."
The report said the plane was not fitted with in-flight satellite tracking equipment and was beyond the range of air traffic control radars.
There was also no cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder, but the ATSB said there was no requirement for them in the small aircraft.
Severe thunderstorms in the area
The report indicated the plane was flying during severe thunderstorms associated with a tropical cyclone in the area around Christmas.
"The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) advised that, on the morning of 23 December 2022, the day prior to the accident, Tropical Cyclone Ellie crossed the coastline to the west of Darwin and tracked to the south," the report read.
Despite the cyclone being downgraded to a tropical low later that evening, the ATSB said BOM analysis showed ongoing thunderstorms could have resulted in "severe turbulence, severe icing and wind shear with outflows of strong and gusty winds, not only in the immediate vicinity but also at some distance away from the storm".
The report showed lightning strikes were recorded in the area between 9:40 and 9:50am, with a thunderstorm which "persisted for several hours" near the accident site.
A weather station at Bulman showed 12.4 millimetres of rain was recorded between 9:30 and 10:30 on the morning of the crash.
"Areas of heavy and moderate rain were predicted with reduced visibility between 500 and 2,000 metres from convective clouds including towering cumulous and cumulonimbus, each with associated severe turbulence," the report said.
The ATSB report said the plane's maintenance records were up to date, and no defects were recorded on the daily inspection certificate issued on the day of the crash.
Investigations into the accident are ongoing, with the ATSB expected to release a detailed final report at a later date.
