GERARD Beiboer’s friends believed the 49-year-old engineer and company managing director was a pilot “at home in the sky”, who died too soon after a crash in July, 2015.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But an Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation report released on Friday found Mr Beiboer made critical errors in his amateur-built Pitts plane, leading to a crash that was “not survivable”.
“The ATSB considered the results of the pilot’s post-mortem examination, which indicated the pilot had coronary artery disease that may have resulted in permanent incapacitation,” the ATSB report said.
“However, while that remained a possibility, there was insufficient evidence to conclude that it influenced the development of the accident.
“The ATSB found that for reasons that could not be determined, VH‑JDZ entered a vertical manoeuvre from which the pilot did not regain control before colliding with terrain. Additionally the aircraft was being flown at a height which reduced the time available to effect a recovery, if required.”
The report found Mr Beiboer flew aerobatic manoeuvres for four minutes before the crash eight kilometres from Maitland airport, although he was not authorised to do so, and had been warned by instructors against it.
He twice flew as low as 200 feet above the ground in the minutes before his death, although manoeuvres are recommended for altitudes at least several thousand feet higher.
Mr Beiboer flew on July 8, 2015 with uncertified and unauthorised modifications to the plane he bought eight months earlier, contravening air safety regulations requiring a pilot not to fly unless all maintenance is completed and certified.
The investigation found his last message after leaving Maitland airport was a pilot departure call at 4.09pm. Witnesses say they heard loud engine noise at 4.30pm, and observed an aircraft about 2000 feet above the ground at the top of a vertical climb.
The plane “slid backwards, tail first, before entering a horizontal spin” and hit the ground nose first before bursting into flames.
The investigation found Mr Beiboer had 21.5 hours training in aerobatic manoeuvres, had “not yet achieved the required competency to be authorised for spinning or an aerobatic endorsement” and had been warned not to conduct solo aerobatics.
It found Mr Beiboer ended his last aerobatic training flight on May 28, 2015 after he was “unable to recover from a stable inverted spin” and suffered nausea and disorientation requiring the instructor to take over.
The ATSB found it could not determine why the plane entered “a vertical manoeuvre from which the pilot did not regain control before colliding with terrain”, but noted the incidence of pilots dying in amateur-built planes was greater than in commercially-built aircraft.
Mr Beiboer’s relatively low altitude while carrying out the aerobatic manoeuvres meant the risk of a fatality was greater, the ATSB found.
“Flying at low altitudes is not only risky when things are going right, it becomes downright perilous when things are going wrong,” an ATSB warning to pilots said.
Mr Beiboer was the popular managing director of RIG Installations at Kooragang, a Royal Newcastle Aero Club member and the father of four daughters. He had “a big, generous heart”, his funeral was told.
