'Wish me luck': Chilling video reveals Swan River plane crash victim's final moments
Haunting video has emerged of a young plane crash victim’s final moments before the plane she was travelling in crashed into Perth’s Swan River on Thursday.
Endah Cakrawati, 30, was killed alongside her partner and pilot Peter Lynch, 52, when their plane nose-dived in front of 60,000 onlookers gathering for the Australia Day skyshow.
As the lengthy investigation into what went wrong gets underway, footage posted on Instagram showed the excited passenger preparing for takeoff from inside the cabin.
“Wish me luck,” she said into the camera.
“We're in Perth and we are ready to go for Skyworks today. Happy Australia Day.”
Just moments later, shocked spectators could do nothing but watch on as the Grumman G-73 "Mallard" plane broke up on impact as it hit the Swan River with thousands of horrified revellers looking on.
The plane went down about 200 metres offshore, missing scores of nearby boats and barges laden with fireworks for the scheduled Skyshow that evening.
Meanwhile, the wreckage of the seaplane that killed the couple has also been recovered.
The WA Department of Transport led the salvage operation that began on Friday while a marked exclusion zone will remain until a final underwater sweep of the site is conducted to confirm no further wreckage remains.
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Friend and pilot Mack McCormack said Mr Lynch had texted him saying he was concerned about hot and low-wind weather conditions, which can affect a plane's performance, before the flight.
Mr McCormack said that the father-of-three had only received clearance from Australia's Civil Aviation Authority to fly in the Australia Day event the day before the accident.
Guess what mate?” Mr Lynch recalled.
“I got my type rating and everything through the CASA, they took care of me.
“So that’s all good, it’s all sorted, really happy about that, means I’ll be in the show.”
Mr McCormack said Ms Cakrawati, a mother and TV presenter in Indonesia, wasn’t supposed to be in the plane at the time, as she had planned to watch the show with him from the shore.
But the last minute decision to get inside the plane proved to be a tragic one.
“Peter had told me that CASA had been in contact with him from CASA Canberra and they were concerned with his limited experience and they didn’t want him to fly the air show,” Mr McCormack added.
