Investigators say the pilot of a plane that crashed last year into an Australian shopping mall, killing him and his four American passengers, didn't properly check the aircraft before takeoff.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said Australian pilot Max Quartermain radioed "Mayday" seven times in ten seconds but did not explain the emergency before the plane plunged into the Melbourne Mall in February 2017 moments after takeoff.
The investigators' final report said the rudder trim of the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air B200 was in the full nose-left position instead of a neutral position before takeoff, and the pilot did not detect the mistake.
During a news conference, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the accident could have been prevented if a checklist had been followed by the pilot.
Killed in the plane crash were Quartermain, along with passengers Greg Reynolds De Haven, Russell Munsch, Glenn Garland and John Howard Washburn, who all lived in the Austin, Texas, area. They were heading to King Island, 155 miles south of Melbourne, on a golfing trip.
