I too am sorry to hear of the death of your friend.
I don't find anything on the ATSB or CASA websites about this yet. A quick search found a number of news stories, with the news.ninemsn.com.au report being the most complete among the ones I've seen so far:
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One dead in WA plane crash
One person was killed and five seriously injured when a light plane crashed as it returned to Perth's Jandakot airport shortly after taking off.
The twin-engined Cessna 404 with six people on board brushed trees as it was coming back to land at the airport, crashing short of the runway in scrubland about 18km south of Perth, emergency authorities said.
Initial inquires indicate engine trouble as the cause of the crash, officials said.
The plane was believed to be owned by Fugro Spatial Solutions, who have a fleet of seven high performance twin engine aircraft for aerial survey and specialised air work operations.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority launched an immediate inquiry into the accident as the five injured passengers were taken to hospital for treatment.
"On-site investigators are currently pulling together the pieces at this very early stage," CASA's Peter Gibson said.
"It appears the plane took off ... and then experienced some difficulties before turning back and attempting to land. The plane came up short and hit some trees and has then crashed."
Mr Gibson said the plane had a current certificate to fly and had never come to the attention of CASA before the accident.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau had an investigator on site, police said.
A spokeswoman for St John Ambulance said the injured - all with severe burns - had been taken to Royal Perth Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner hospital, four by road and one by medivac helicopter.
All the injured have "time-critical" life threatening injuries, she said.
WA's new Medivac helicopter, which does not come into commission until August 16, was performing training exercises at the airport and was swung into action immediately after the crash.
The man taken by air to Royal Perth had burns to much of his body, the ambulance spokeswoman said.
Officials at the airport reported a "category one incident, which indicates an emergency" at around 3.30pm local time (1730 AEDT).
Fire crews were called to the site to extinguish a blaze started when the plane crashed.
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END
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CASA has the following info on the operator:
FUGRO SPATIAL SOLUTIONS PTY LTD
trading as FUGRO SPATIAL SOLUTIONS PTY LTD
121 HILL STREET
EAST PERTH WA 6004
Type of operations
Aerial work
Aerial work categories
Agricultural operations (may include seeding, chemical/fertilizer spreading, spraying/pest eradication)
Dropping operations (may include water/fire retardant, bushfire control, food/fodder relief, messages, lifesaving equipment/personnel)
Aerial photography (may include still and motion, low level filming, media operations)
Search and rescue
Aerial surveying (may include geochemical/sampling, environmental studies, pipeline inspection, property survey)
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Link to the operator's certificate:
http://www.casa.gov.au/casadata/aoc/...W038804-30.pdf
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Fugro's C404s (don't know which one it was):
VH ANV
Aeroplane with retractable tricycle landing gear
2 reciprocating engines
Make and type: CESSNA 404
Model: 404
Serial number: 4040820
SSR Mode S code: 011111000000000111101001
Aircraft first registered in Australia: 01/06/1981
Certificate of Registration holder as of 13/09/1991
FUGRO SPATIAL SOLUTIONS PTY LTD
121 HILL STREET
EAST PERTH WA 6004
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VH AZU
Aeroplane with retractable tricycle landing gear
2 reciprocating engines
Make and type: CESSNA 404
Model: 404
Serial number: 4040803
SSR Mode S code: 011111000000001110011000
Aircraft first registered in Australia: 09/12/1981
Certificate of Registration holder as of 13/09/1991
FUGRO SPATIAL SOLUTIONS PTY LTD
121 HILL STREET
EAST PERTH WA 6004
****
VH WGS
Aeroplane with retractable tricycle landing gear
2 reciprocating engines
Make and type: CESSNA 404
Model: 404
Serial number: 404-0686
SSR Mode S code: 011111000111000001001010
Aircraft first registered in Australia: 06/10/1998
Certificate of Registration holder as of 06/10/1998
FUGRO AIRBORNE SURVEYS PTY LTD
LOCKED BAG 6
WEMBLEY WA 6014
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Fugro Spatial website:
http://www.fugrospatial.com.au/
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Finally, if you don't know what a C404 looks like, go here (Note that the aircraft on this page has nothing to do with the accident):
http://www.westavia.de/en_cessna_404_titan.htm
Sorry I didn't have time to run down anything else...
Dave