March 28, 2017 - 6:46 PM
CANBERRA, Australia - Investigators say a cockpit voice recorder failed to capture audio of the doomed flight of a light plane that crashed into the roof of an Australian shopping mall last month killing a pilot and four Americana tourists.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a preliminary report on Wednesday that Australian pilot Max Quartermain radioed "Mayday" seven times, but did not explain the emergency before the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air B200 plunged into the mall in Melbourne on Feb. 21 moments after takeoff from a nearby runway.
The pilot was taking passengers Greg Reynolds De Haven, Russell Munsch, Glenn Garland and John Howard Washburn — who all lived in the Austin, Texas, area — to King Island on a golfing trip.
The bureau has yet to explain the tragedy.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017