Plane parts retrieved for crash investigation

UPDATE: Tasmania Police have released the name of the young pilot killed in Saturday’s crash near Federation Peak in Tasmania’s South-West.

UPDATED: Tasmania Police have released the name of the young pilot killed in Saturday’s crash near Federation Peak in Tasmania’s South-West.

The pilot was Nikita Jo Walker, 30, of Tranmere.

Ms Walker is originally from Queensland.

“Our thoughts are with Nikita’s family and her loved ones at this difficult time,” Tasmania Police said, in a statement.

The investigation being undertaken by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and Tasmania Police is continuing.

A report will be prepared for the Coroner.

Pilot Nikita Jo Walker died when her plane crashed on Saturday in Tasmania’s Southwest National Park. Picture: SUPPLIED

EARLIER: AIRLINES of Tasmania suspended all flights on Sunday as a specialist team prepared to investigate the site of Saturday’s fatal plane crash in the state’s South West.

The body of the pilot of the twin-engine Par Avion aircraft, which crashed in bad weather about 100 metres below the summit of West Portal in the Western Arthurs range, was retrieved late on Sunday.

The 10-seater Britten-Norman Islander aircraft was en route to Melaleuca in Bathurst Harbour to pick up five tourists from the renowned Denny King settlement in the Southwest National Park.

Investigators believe the pilot, the plane’s only occupant, was trying to turn back when the crash occurred in low level cloud about 9am on Saturday.

“This is a tragedy for us,” Airlines of Tasmania managing director Shannon Wells said.

Par Avion Managing Director Shannon Wells, standing beside wife Sarah Wells, speaks about the plane crash near the Western Arthurs resulting in the death of a Par Avion pilot. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

“We will be employing counsellors and psychologists and just making sure our team is OK to fly. A big part of aviation is mental health.

“We have lost one of our own and I want to make sure our pilots … are fit and fully capable of flying when they get behind the wheels of the planes.”

He said the pilot, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, was experienced, had flown between Hobart and Melaleuca many times — usually a 50-minute flight — and had been flying with the company for three years.

The pilot moved to Tasmania to become a pilot, had trained here and was well versed in Tasmanian flying conditions, Mr Wells said.

“There’s been a lot of tears shed by myself and most of my colleagues.

“We are a small family business. We train up a lot of our people here and see the same people every day. We know everyone by name and when one of us doesn’t come home it really hits hard.”

The plane’s satellite tracker showed it — “for reasons we don’t know at this stage” — had turned back to Hobart before it crashed, Mr Wells said.

“The weather was overcast. There were passing showers in the area and judging by the fact the police couldn’t access the site until late in the evening [on Saturday] it was obviously a sign that the cloud was quite low around the mountain area,” he said.

“We have got no reason to believe there was a mechanical issue at this stage.”

The company said this had been the first time one of their planes had crashed between Hobart and Melaleuca since it first began flying there more than 20 years ago.

Two people died when an Airlines of Tasmania plane crashed off the East Coast during the 2014 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

A crew on the Westpac Rescue helicopter found the plane wreckage at West Portal, near the Arthur Range, about 7.10pm on Saturday night.

Tasmania Police said the pilot’s body had been recovered from wreckage on the West Portal mountainside.

“We had two objectives, to safely retrieve the pilot’s body and to forensically examine the scene,” Inspector Dave Wiss, of the Kingston police division, said.

“It was important to achieve both objectives for the sake of the family and to ensure a greater understanding of the events that contributed to this tragic event. Thankfully, both have been successfully achieved,” he said.

The plane had crashed in remote and “hostile” mountainous terrain and the specialist investigation team had to be winched in from the Westpac Rescue helicopter.

He said the team also retrieved “certain parts of the plane” to help determine how it crashed.

The plane was located at 7.10pm on Saturday during a search led by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

Mr Wells said the company had been in regular contact with the pilot’s family during the search effort.

“We will be meeting them at the airport and looking after them and providing every support we can for the child that they have lost,” he said.

EARLIER: Friends, family and colleagues of a pilot who has been killed in a light plane crash in Tasmania’s South West are still in shock after yesterday’s tragedy.

Airlines of Tasmania Managing Director Shannon Wells said everyone is still coming to terms with the crash.

“We are incredibly saddened at the confirmation by Police Search and Rescue that they have found where the plane went down and that our pilot did not survive the crash,” Mr Wells said.

“We are mourning the loss of a great member of our team who was not only a work colleague but a much loved friend to everyone at the airline,” he said.

“Our focus today is very much with the pilot’s family and friends, including their colleagues here at Airlines of Tasmania.”

The name of the pilot is being withheld to honour the request of the family.

An image used by Airlines of Tasmania to promote its Southwest Wilderness Tours, features a twin-engine aircraft similar to the one that has gone missing.

The base of Airlines of Tasmania at Cambridge. Airlines of Tasmania has grave concerns for the pilot of a twin-engine aircraft that has gone missing in Tasmania’s south-west. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES