Investigators probe fatal light plane crash in Melbourne's south-east
Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators are at the scene of a fatal light plane crash in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Mordialloc, in which a pilot was killed after the aircraft burst into flames on a residential street.
Six representatives from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau have arrived at Scarlet Street to inspect the wreckage of the plane, a single-engine Cessna 172 aircraft, which crashed around 5pm on Friday night, hitting a fence and narrowly missing houses.
An ATSB spokeswoman said investigators were yet to determine the direction the plane was travelling in when the crash occurred, or whether the pilot made any ‘mayday’ calls.
The pilot is thought to have been on a test flight when the accident happened.
The spokeswoman said investigators would look at the wreckage to establish the speed and direction of the aircraft, and whether it had any technical faults.
She said the plane's engine would likely be taken away for further inspection.
The pilot's body was removed from the scene on Friday night. His name has not been released upon request of the family.
A small section of the Scarlet Street remains closed off off, with only residents allowed in or out.
Residents have told how the plane burst into flames and some initially tried to extinguish it with garden hoses.
Locals also said that planes regularly flew "really, really low" over their homes and some had feared a tragedy of this kind.
Moorabbin Airport, located in Mordialloc, is one of the Victoria's busiest airfields.
Fourteen flight schools operate out of it and around 250,000 flights enter and exit the airfield each year.