DALLAS (WN) A pilot repeatedly yelled out
“Mayday” but did not say what the emergency was before his light plane crashed
into the roof of an Australian shopping mall, killing himself and four American
tourists, an accident investigator said Wednesday.
Police blamed “catastrophic engine failure”
when a twin-engine Beechcraft B200 Super King Air crashed into the Direct
Factory Outlet mall in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon on Tuesday moments
after takeoff from a nearby runway.
But Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief
commissioner Greg Hood said modern twin-engine aircraft are designed to
continue flying if an engine failed.
“My understanding is he only used the word
‘Mayday’ a number of times,” Hood told reporters, referring to radio
communication from pilot Max Quartermain to air traffic controllers. “My
understanding is he didn’t refer to the specific nature of the emergency,” Hood
said.
Quartermain was the 63-year-old owner of the
charter company Corporate and Leisure Travel. The passengers were identified as
Greg Reynolds De Haven, Russell Munsch, Glenn Garland and John Howard Washburn,
who all lived in the Austin, Texas, area.
Australian media reports Wednesday said
Quartermain had been under investigation over a near mid-air collision that
happened in September.
Hood said he would not comment on Quartermain
or his flying record. He added his flying record as well as the plane’s
maintenance record would be part of the crash investigation. Australian
Transport Safety Bureau investigators are to compile a preliminary report
within 28 days.
The bodies were removed from the wreckage on
Tuesday, said Police Superintend Mick Frewen. The busy shopping mall had yet to
open for the day when the plane crashed after taking off from Melbourne’s
second-biggest airport at Essendon for a golfing trip to King Island, 255
kilometers (160 miles) to the south.
De Haven’s sister, Denelle Wicht of
Alexandria, Minnesota, said her brother survived dangerous work in the FBI and
while serving in the U.S. Army during Vietnam only to die while enjoying
retirement. “He managed to get through all of that, to die this way,” Wicht
told The Associated Press.
She said the 70-year-old De Haven was
“extremely athletic” and at one time aspired to become a pro golfer, but his
young family at the time came first. After he retired, De Haven went on the
senior pro golf circuit.
De Haven and his wife were part of a larger
group that included at least two other couples who were touring Australia over
the course of three weeks and intended to also see New Zealand, Wicht said. She
earlier told KXAN-TV in Austin that the men had chartered the flight for a
round of golf on an offshore island. Their wives had stayed behind to pursue
other interests.
Munsch was a founding partner in the Texas
law firm of Munsch Hardt, which said in a statement Tuesday that he litigated
some of the most prominent bankruptcy cases in the U.S., including the 2001
bankruptcy proceedings for Houston-based Enron Corp., one of the largest energy
companies in the world before its collapse. He would have turned 62 on
Wednesday.
“He could take something that’s exceedingly
complicated and boil it down and present it in a very simple way in court that
was easy to understand,” Rick Kopf, another founding partner of the firm, told
the AP. Munsch’s neighbor, Washburn, was also a victim, his son, John Howard
“Jay” Washburn Jr. said.
Meanwhile, an energy consulting firm in
Austin confirmed that Garland, a former CEO and co-founder of the company, was
also a victim in the crash. Garland was one of the founders in 2003 of
CLEAResult and served as chief executive before retiring in 2015.
In a statement Tuesday, CLEAResult co-founder
Jim Stimmel described Garland as a “visionary” when it came to finding
efficiencies in producing and providing energy.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at a
briefing Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s “thoughts and prayers are with
the families of the victims” and that U.S. Embassy and Consulate officials will
provide assistance as the investigation progresses.
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