Police to remove crash bodies
From: AAP
March 13, 2006
POLICE today will begin removing two bodies from a light plane that crashed at Mildura in Victoria's north-west as investigations into the cause of the accident continue.
The plane crashed last night as it was coming in to land at Mildura Airport, killing the 49-year-old pilot and his 10-year-old son. The victims were from nearby Cardross, the scene of a fatal hit-run accident which killed six local teenagers last month.
Police Superintendent Inghard Ehrenberg said the remains of the single-engine two-seater Glasair were unrecognisable and the crash site remained cordoned off while the recovery operation continued.
The bodies will be transported to the state coroner's office in Melbourne today and police will use dental records and DNA to formally identify them.
"The reality is that there is no probability that it would be anybody else ... however that's not good enough for coronial purposes and we have to positively identify each of the deceased to satisfy the coroner," Superintendent Ehrenberg said.
"Once we've extracted the bodies from the fuselage, we've made arrangements to put what remains of it into secure storage.
"That will be locked away until such time as someone wants to look at it."
Police investigating the cause of the accident will speak to witnesses who reported hearing the plane's engine splutter before the crash.
Superintendent Ehrenberg said the plane crashed into a shed on a property about one kilometre from the airport and partly disintegrated before hitting the ground.
"When it's hit the shed, it's actually stripped the wings and the tail off the aircraft and it's actually only the fuselage that's kept on going."
Supt Ehrenberg dismissed earlier reports the plane crashed after hitting racks used for drying fruit.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it would not investigate the crash because it did not look into the causes of accidents involving home-built aircraft.
Mildura Airport manager George Vallence today said the pilot flew regularly from Mildura Airport and had built the aircraft himself.