A light aircraft on Tuesday, exploded in a “massive fireball” with police disclosing none of the five people aboard survived as it smashed into a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne.
The Beechcraft plane veered just after take-off into the shopping centre, that was still closed, next to Essendon Fields airport.
The light aircraft crashed just after 9am local time today moments after taking off from Essendon Airport.
Pilot Max Quartermain, 63, reported a “catastrophic engine failure” moments before the plane crashed into a storage area at the rear of the shopping centre, police said.
The West Australian’s aviation editor, Geoffrey Thomas told the channel the plane appeared to have lost power in its left-hand engine, causing it to stall.
He said it was not fully loaded – carrying five people and golf buggies – and had enough fuel for its journey.
The four passengers were a group of American golfers playing their way around the world on the trip of a lifetime, news.com.au reports.
More photos below:
CRD – thesun.co.uk
Wow…what a loss.My question is,is it the fault of the pilot or mechanical fault…hint me up