A crash of a seaplane off the coast of Sydney, Australia that killed five passengers and the pilot may have been caused by one of the passengers accidentally knocking the pilot out while trying to take photos.
On December 31, 2017 at about 3:15 pm local time, a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver crashed into Jersualem Bay near Sydney Australia, killing all five passengers and the pilot. The flight was taking a group home after dining at a nearby restaurant.
Unfortunately, given the aircraft’s age and size, it carried neither a cockpit voice recorder nor a flight data recorder. However, an intermediate report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau indicated that all flight control surfaces and controls were in working order and in the proper positions, while witnesses indicated nothing out of the ordinary with the engine.
Jerry Schwartz, a part-owner of Sydney Seaplanes, the company that owned the plane, strongly believes that the front-seat passenger inadvertently knocked out the pilot with their elbow while turning to take photos (photos taken during the flight were recovered from a camera found at the scene). Schwartz said this theory came about after the investigation found the aircraft was sound and that the pilot had made a “totally inexplicable” steep right turn that was incompatible with his skill, experience, and knowledge of the surrounding area. As such, it’s believed that the pilot was incapacitated somehow, and given the pilot’s age, health, and physical regimen as well as the recovered photos, some believe this was the mostly likely scenario.
Photo of accident aircraft by Wikipedia user Ahlynka, used under Creative Commons.