{"id":580027,"date":"2026-04-02T04:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580027\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T04:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:50:09","slug":"preliminary-cause-of-normanton-plane-crash-that-killed-a-32-year-old-pilot-released-by-atsb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580027\/","title":{"rendered":"Preliminary cause of Normanton plane crash that killed a 32-year-old pilot released by ATSB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A preliminary report indicates a fatal plane crash in the Gulf of Carpentaria earlier this year followed the aircraft coming down quickly after take-off and striking a tree, before crashing in crocodile-infested floodwaters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released its preliminary report into the fatal incident near Normanton this morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The solo pilot crashed on the evening of February 6, 2026, 800 metres west of Normanton Airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">He was found dead in the rugged marsh two days later on February 8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The 32-year-old male from Clifton Beach in Cairns was flying a Machjet International Beechcraft King Air B200.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">After boarding four passengers in Normanton, the pilot flew to Doomadgee, about 240 kilometres to the west, before returning them to Normanton about four hours later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The ATSB report found that after taking off from runway 32, the aircraft climbed to a maximum of about 46 metres above ground level before descending and colliding with terrain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The aircraft was destroyed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Days later, police officers carrying rifles guarded their colleagues who recovered the body in knee-deep water, surrounded by difficult terrain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said investigators had examined the accident site and wreckage, conducted interviews, gathered available flight data, pilot records and weather information.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"sign that says welcome to normanton\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ebbbcf63e91356f8593365c1fbca7c9e.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">An aircraft came down 800 metres west of Normanton airport. (Supplied)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Evidence indicates the aircraft \u2026 impacted the ground in a wings-level attitude and slid beneath powerlines, then commenced a gradual yaw to the right, impacting trees, and breaking up in the process, before coming to rest in floodwaters about 580m beyond the runway&#8217;s end,&#8221; Mr Mitchell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Mr Mitchell noted the preliminary report includes a summary of the available forecast and observed meteorological conditions at the aerodrome, and in the surrounding area, at the time of the accident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;As the investigation progresses it will include an assessment of data from air traffic control, the Bureau of Meteorology, and equipment recovered from the aircraft,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Investigators will also conduct further interviews, and analyse witness videos, photographs and airport data, along with all relevant operational information.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A final report will be released at the end of the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A preliminary report indicates a fatal plane crash in the Gulf of Carpentaria earlier this year followed the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[284351,94494,43,44,203174,284352,57805,284353,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-580027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-atsb-report","9":"tag-gulf-of-carpentaria","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-normanton","13":"tag-normanton-plane-crash","14":"tag-plane-crash","15":"tag-plane-crash-into-floodwaters","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}