A Gold Coast pilot was performing manoeuvres below 500-feet in a Soviet-era aircraft before crashing into the ocean at high speed, killing both himself and his passenger in 2019, an inquest has found.
Investigators were not able to determine with certainty that pilot Martinus van Hattem was completing an aerobatic manoeuvre immediately before the crash, but it was considered a possibility.
The 52-year-old pilot and his passenger, Trista Applebee, 31, were killed when his Yak-52 vintage military aircraft crashed into the ocean off South Stradbroke Island.
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