Concern is being expressed about the circumstances surrounding an Australian plane crash in which an Irishman died yesterday.
Nigel O'Gorman (34) from Naas, Co Kildare was killed when the Cessna 206 plane crashed near Brisbane, Queensland, killing five of the seven people aboard shortly after take-off.
The engine on the Brisbane Skydiving Centre's plane which crashed yesterday was similar to one recalled by its US manufacturers Lycoming in 2002 after a crash in Australia two years earlier claimed eight lives.
The engine on yesterday's ill-fated flight had been modified to give it more power at take-off but the plume of smoke seen from the plane and its subsequent failure to take off properly has led to initial investigations to focus on the engine.
Chief crash investigator Alan Stray today told Queenland's Courier Mail: "The focus is on the whole of the aircraft and its operation, but because we have had advice that there was a puff of smoke seen from the engine and the fact the aircraft was not able to maintain the rate of climb that would be expected, that would suggest there has been some major problem with the engine and its systems."
He also said the engine had a history of unusual crank-shaft failures but cautioned against making a link between yesterday's crash and the incident in 2000 in which a Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft with a similar engine crashed. He said the engine on the plane involved in yesterday's tragedy was more than sufficiently modified to give it the power to take off safely.
A former operator of Whyalla Airlines in South Australia which ran the Chieftain which crashed following mid-air engine failure in 2000 said he was "sick in the stomach" when he heard the engine in yesterday's crash was similar to the one involved in 2000.
Mr Chris Brougham is quoted by the Sydney Morning Heraldsaying: "If it is a Lycoming engine and it's subsequently shown to be a similar problem to the one that caused the Whyalla airline tragedy, then it's absolutely amazing that CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) haven't done something to detect this problem before now and to have done something to fix it."
Maintenance records and pilots charts from the plane are being analysed by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau but there is no flight recorder because small planes are not required to have them in Australia.