Report blames spin-out

Pilot, passenger not at fault in fatal flight crash

THE final report into a 2015 plane crash that caused the death of a 58-year-old fatherof-two has been released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

NSW man Gary Turnbull was killed in the crash at Tiger Moth Joy Rides’ airfield in Pimpama, which also left 21year-old pilot Ryan Campbell seriously injured.

The plane took off at 9.06am on December 28 and lasted less than a minute in the air before spinning out and hitting the ground.

Emergency services located the plane 45 minutes after the critically injured Campbell regained consciousness and called triple-0, but Mr Turnbull died on impact.

The ATSB report now confirms the plane suffered a “partial engine power loss” at low altitude but was unable to determine why.

“The investigation also found that when the aircraft entered the spin, there was insufficient height to recover before ground contact,” it reads.

“When in a low-speed climbing turn, the aircraft is already vulnerable by being at low speed with a nose-up attitude, therefore close to the stall. Low-energy, low-powered aeroplanes, such as the Tiger Moth, in this situation will suffer some performance loss during a turn.”

There were no pre-accident problems with the plane, and no evidence of catastrophic engine failure or anything that would have led to a “sudden reduction in engine power”.

The report also notes it does not attribute blame to either the passenger or the pilot.

The incident was the second ill-fated joy flight for the company, after Taissia Umenc and pilot Alex “Jimmy” Rae died in a Tiger Moth crash off South Stradbroke Island in 2013.

Mr Turnbull had been looking to buy a retirement home in Woolgoolga with his wife Gail when he was given the joy flight tickets as a Christmas gift from his daughters.

His present occurred.

Close friend Des Henwood said at the time family and friends had been left “devastated”.

“Gary was the nicest bloke and had the most beautiful family,” he said.

“He was a great man and a bit of a daredevil; he had been hang-gliding and loved motorcycle riding.

“His two girls, Erin Ruby, are a credit to him.” daughter when Ruby was the crash and