Wreckage and body found in search for missing plane
Gold Coast water police searching for a missing plane have discovered wreckage and the body of a man off South Stradbroke Island. The man is believed to be the plane’s pilot.
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GOLD Coast water police searching for a missing plane have found wreckage and the body of a man off South Stradbroke Island.
Police believe the man to be the 52-year-old pilot Marcel van Hattem. A major search operation to find Mr van Hattem’s passenger, a 31-year-old Gold Coast woman, was continuing tonight.
The search and rescue operation was launched after the Yak52 plane they were flying in disappeared after what was supposed to be a short flight around South Stradbroke Island.
Friends have described Mr van Hattem, a Dutch national who lived on the Gold Coast, as a very capable pilot and a well liked member of the Southport Flying Club.
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Aerodrome Manager Steve Rance described Mr van Hattem as very friendly and well-loved pilot.
“Marcel was a well-respected member of the club,” he said.
“He was very friendly, very well-liked member of the Southport Flying club and had been with us for about six years.
“He was a very capable and well-loved pilot.”
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A shocked neighbour of Mr van Hattem said he was a very adventurous person, who loved flying.
“If he has died, he died doing what he loved — he absolutely loved flying,” they said.
“He was a great neighbour and a very adventurous sort of guy.
“He was a thinker and loved life.
“He was just a great guy and really well liked.”
The neighbour said the pilot had flown his plane low over their street on the northern Gold Coast.
“That’s the sort of guy he was,” he said.
“I only found out about six months ago that he had a plane because he asked me to come up with him. I never got around to doing it.”
Debbie Toussaint, a friend of Mr van Hattem’s who flew with him only weeks ago on a joy flight in the Yak-52, said she was heartbroken to hear he was missing.
“My heart is broken for my friend Marcel van Hattem who took me for the joyride in his plane only weeks ago,” she posted on Facebook.
“I was just contacted to say his plane went missing yesterday afternoon and some of the wreck has been found near Stradbroke Island – he was such a generous and beautiful man... he knew what he was doing, he was an excellent pilot. I even had a go at flying it.”
Ms Toussaint said she felt for Mr van Hattem’s two sons who are believed to live in the Netherlands.
“I feel for his boys who are not here in Australia and for the people who work in his businesses and all family and friends involved,” she wrote.
“That flight was one of the most amazing highlights of my life.”
Originally published as Wreckage and body found in search for missing plane
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