The passenger on board, a 31-year-old mother, was enjoying an early birthday flight with her pilot friend. Gold Coast water police made a tragic discovery this afternoon, finding the body of pilot Marcel van Hattem inside the wreckage of his destroyed plane. Mr Hattem, 52, took off from a small Gold Coast airport at Southport Airport (SHQ/YSPT) around 10am yesterday with a 31-year-old woman as his passenger. But the plane failed to return to Coombabah airfield after what was supposed to be a 30-minute joy flight. Search crews resumed the hunt for the vintage plane this morning, finding Mr Hattem inside the wreckage just off South Stradbroke Island. Police will continue to search for the remainder of the wreckage and the missing female passenger. Officials confirmed part of the body of the plane had been found near the island, the piece of the plane is part of the fuselage, which was washed up on the shore early today, while part of the propeller was located yesterday afternoon. “Just before 5pm yesterday, a small amount of debris was found along the coastline of South Stradbroke Island,” Water Police Search and Rescue Coordinator Senior Sergeant Jay Notaro told media on Thursday. “The female was a mother of an 11-year-old daughter.” “The pilot of the plane who was a Dutch national and resident of the Gold Coast. “Unfortunately we haven’t been unable to contact his family as of yet because he is a Dutch national so we are having some difficulties there.”
The woman’s birthday was today.
Aircraft Details
Airline: Private Owner
Code:
Aircraft Type: Yakovlev Yak-52
Registration: VH-PAE
Serial Number: 822001
First Flew: 1978
Age: 41Yrs
THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF BOTH THE PILOT AND THE MISSING FEMALE PASSENGER.
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