There haven't been any engine failures with the liberty aircraft in australia in the past and so far nobody has suggested one occured in this prang. they're continental (not lycoming as previous poster suggested) FADEC engines and have fairly proven reliability overseas. obviously nothing rules it out as a cause yet, but let's not be too quick to blame anything or anyone until the facts come out.
normally it is great to see operators introduce new aircraft to the Australian register so hopefully whatever caused this can be learnt from and prevented in the future. Nice to hear it is getting a proper investigation from both american and australian authorities.
Condolences to the family and friends. it's a tragic end to a young life
PS. so far the media seem to have done a decent job reporting this one without too much rubbish. unfortunately it might be that they're getting plenty of practice on this subject recently
