The owner of a seaplane that crashed off the coast of Australia on New Year's Eve says the flight path taken by the B.C. pilot was not authorized. Forty-four-year-old Gareth Morgan of North Vancouver was killed along with his five British passengers when the de Havilland Beaver crashed near Sydney. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released a preliminary report Wednesday ruling out a bird strike, contaminated fuel and the plane breaking up in flight, but does not suggest a likely cause of the crash. The plane had an earlier fatal crash in 1996 while operating as a crop duster in rural Australia that was blamed on the pilot stalling the aircraft.

Source: CBC News January 31, 2018 22:08 UTC