From the Australian
September 17, 2008
A BUSINESSMAN who brokered the sale of crash victim Scott Menrath's light plane told yesterday how the inexperienced pilot boasted "I'll be right" when he tried to warn him against flying in poor weather.
The recovery of the bodies of Mr Menrath, his partner Monique Fraser and their seven year-old son, Daniel, was put on hold yesterday because of difficulty in reaching the rugged crash site.
Aviation experts were questioning why the 39-year-old chose to cross notorious Barrington Tops - a route considered off limits to light aircraft - during a storm.
The single-engine Cessna 206 slammed into a remote hilltop in heavy weather on Sunday as Mr Menrath, Ms Fraser and Daniel flew home to Brisbane hours after taking possession of the $89,000 aircraft at Bankstown airport.
Veteran pilot Don Hodge, who brokered the sale of the six seater aircraft, yesterday told The Daily Telegraph he tried to warn Mr Menrath against flying in heavy weather but the pilot, who had just 100 hours of experience, seemed determined to pick up the aircraft after spending over two months trying to raise finance for it.
"I said if the weather's bad don't come to Sydney but he just said, 'I'll be right'. He seemed confident ... over-confident. He told me he had flown military planes and I thought he was a lot more experienced," Mr Hodge said yesterday.
"But an experienced pilot wouldn't have left."