Cause of wrongly-positioned aircraft control in Shellharbour crash unknown

Australia's peak aviation safety body investigating a fatal light plane crash south of Sydney last October long weekend say a wrongly-positioned aircraft control is to blame.

Pilot Andrew Connors, his wife Julianne Connors, and friend Colin McLaughlin were killed seconds after they departed Shellharbour Airport in a private journey bound for Bathurst in the NSW central west.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has this week handed down its final report into the incident following a nearly year-long analysis of the burnt wreckage, security vision, witness photos and post-mortem results.

It found the aircraft's horizontal stabilator, which provides pitch control, did not lower to the correct position after take-off, causing it to lose lift.

"After a ground roll of around 400 metres the [Piper Cherokee Lance] got airborne, pitched up quite abruptly, yawed left then ultimately … went into a stall condition and collided just on the intersection of the two runways," ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said.

The horizontal stabilator is a moveable surface, typically located at the back of the aircraft, responsible for tilting the nose up or down, and maintaining longitudinal stability.

"We found that the [horizontal stabilator] was in full flexion and that was certainly too much to sustain flight for this aircraft," Chief Commissioner Mitchell said.

He said the three-wheel, single-engine, low-wing aircraft yawed to the left because of its right-turning propellers.

"It then progressed to what we would say is a stall condition and then it no longer had lift. There was very little opportunity then to provide any inputs to correct that," Chief Commissioner Mitchell said.

"The aircraft came down pretty much on its side as it has impacted the terrain."

After working through a number of "normal culprits", Chief Commissioner Mitchell said investigators could not determine why the aircraft control was incorrectly positioned.

"We looked at things like an animal strike or environmental impacts and we found no evidence of that," he said.

"Other things we look at in this type of scenario are things like 'was everything secured inside the cabin' … or things that could have impacted the pilot or controls. There was no evidence in this particular accident.

"There was also no evidence of a medical episode.

"Disappointingly, it's one of those investigations where we know what occurred. We just don't have all the answers as to why."

Investigators had ruled in their early report that Mr Connors as an experienced pilot with more than 1,000 flying hours, including about 27 hours in the aircraft he died in.

Neighbours of Mr and Mrs Connors and Mr McLaughlin have previously described them as "absolutely fantastic people" and that there deaths were "hard to fathom".

The ABC has made attempts to contact the victims friends and family.

Chief Commissioner Mitchell said it is hard say what could have prevented the "tragic" incident.

"We know that pilots aren't typically trained for what we'd say is an uncommanded pitch up during take-off," he said.

"That's something that flight training schools and pilots of these aircraft potentially can give some thought to now."

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