A friend of a pilot who died flying a light plane he built himself north-east of Perth has described his mate as a “very well-liked pilot” and “respected aircraft builder”.
Malcolm Vivian, 76, died on Wednesday morning when his amateur-built replica Spitfire aircraft crashed into terrain in the rural locality of Malabaine, east of Northam and about 90 kilometres from Perth.
Emergency services found Mr Vivian dead at the scene, police said.
It is not known what caused the replica Spitfire to crash in Malabaine on Wednesday morning. (ABC News)
Friend Kim Lawrence said Mr Vivian was flying at the time to get his hours up in the aircraft.
“What happened, no-one will know,” he told 102.5 ABC Radio Perth.
“I’ve seen the crash site … it [the plane] hasn’t gone in nose first, people can think what they want to think about how it crashed, but I definitely don’t believe it was pilot error.”
Plane ‘running beautiful’
Mr Lawrence said the “brand new” replica Spitfire was the second aircraft Mr Vivian had built.
Emergency services found Malcolm Vivian dead at the scene of the crash. (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)
“He’s a very respected aircraft builder,” he said.
Mr Lawrence said his friend had recently been completing landings and “touch and goes” in his aircraft, adding it had been “running beautiful”.
“When he took off yesterday … he took off on runway 1-2 and he made a left turn and then he disappeared,”
he said.
Mr Lawrence said someone had reportedly heard the crash nearby, but he was unsure how the accident occurred.
He said he was phoned by a crop dusting pilot who told him about “a crash just out of Northam”.
“He didn’t say Malcolm … I don’t know what went through my mind, but … I knew Malcolm was testing his aircraft around Northam and I just knew it was him,” he said.
‘No ordinary aircraft builder’
Mr Vivian has been remembered by his friend as a “special builder” and “very well-liked pilot”.
“My last conversation with him the night before is that he told me that he gets bored just walking around the house watching TV … so he would travel up to Northam nearly every week or fortnight,” Mr Lawrence said.
“He would spend two or three days at a time here working on his aircraft … Malcolm was a special builder, he wasn’t just your ordinary aircraft builder.”
Malcolm Vivian took off from Northam Aero Club on the fatal flight. (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)
He said Mr Vivian lived with his wife in Perth and was also a TC [type certificate] inspector for building aircraft.
“He’s just a beautiful man,” he said.
“I’m pretty upset … I still can’t believe it.”
ATSB investigating
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) officers are expected to arrive in Perth this morning to begin an investigation.
The officers, specialising in aircraft maintenance and engineering and materials analysis, will comb through the crash site for evidence over the coming days.
Angus Mitchell says the ATSB will issue a preliminary report on the crash in roughly eight weeks. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)
ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said investigators would interview any witnesses and record “any available flight tracking data”, as well as pilot and aircraft maintenance records and weather information.
A preliminary report was expected to be published in roughly eight weeks, he said.
The ATSB has asked anyone with video footage of the plane or the fatal flight to contact them.
