Footage from GoPro cameras onboard a doomed former military jet that crashed and killed two people could contain crucial information about the collision.
Wreckage from the four-metre-wide, two-tonne fuselage was lifted out of the water at Port Phillip Bay by a crane and taken back to shore by barge on Saturday morning.
Stephen Gale, 56, and cameraman James Rose, 30, went down in one of two Viper S-211 Marchetti planes on Sunday during a formation flight.
They were filming a Jetworks Aviation promotional video about 12km west of Mount Martha when the planes collided.
The second aircraft was able to land safely.
Victoria Police confirmed on Wednesday the bodies of Mr Gale and Mr Rose had been found after crews located the wreckage of their plane off Mornington.
Acting Superintendent Martin Bourke said the aircraft were flying close together and collided, causing the accident.
"They were flying in tandem," he told reporters on Saturday.
"They were performing manoeuvres together and they clearly got too close."
Search and rescue crews faced challenging conditions in finding the aircraft submerged in 22 metres of water.
"The visibility is quite difficult - it's near zero," Mr Bourke said.
"The plane is weighing nearly two tonnes so trying to lift a plane out of the water and onto the barge has been a significant challenge."
Mr Bourke said investigators hoped to find GoPro cameras on the plane when it crashed.
"Those GoPros were actually put in the plane by the passenger, the 30-year-old passenger, and we're hoping that will help provide some evidence as to what caused this accident," he said.
Mr Gale, a highly experienced flyer, owned Jetworks Aviation, an Essendon Fields-based business created for the yet-to-air TV documentary Any Fool Can Fly.
Earlier this week, comedian and media personality Tommy Little penned a tribute to Mr Gale, who was his mentor.
Little was among student pilots to be featured in the series about a group of high achievers attempting to master flying, aerobatics and formation.
The comedian remembered Mr Gale, a former Royal Australian Air Force member, as one of his closest mates and sidekick in the sky.
"An inventor, an adventurer and a heart of gold," Little wrote on Facebook.
"He was a real-life Tony Stark but with a flying suit instead of an iron one.
"His love for aviation was unparalleled."
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will now examine the plane.
Police are investigating the cause of the collision.
An inquest brief will be prepared for the coroner.
