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Rossair grounds all flights, confirms chief pilot among three dead SA crash

Rossair has grounded its fleet of aircraft after a crash killed three people.

Rossair has grounded its fleet of aircraft after a crash killed three people. Photo: Wikipedia

Charter company Rossair has grounded its fleet of aircraft as a precaution after a plane crash killed three people in South Australia’s Riverland Tuesday afternoon.

Chief pilot Martin Scott and two passengers – Paul Daw, who was re-training, and CASA representative Stephen Guerin – were on board the nine-seater Cessna Conquest, which left Adelaide about 4:00pm on Tuesday.

A Rossair spokesperson said Mr Scott was the company’s chief pilot.

The plane was on a training flight between Adelaide and the Riverland.

Police said an emergency beacon was activated about 4:30pm and a search started a short time later.

The wreckage was found in scrubland about four kilometres west of Renmark Airport just after nightfall.

Major Crash investigators from Adelaide arrived at the scene last night, and an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) team will arrive there this morning.

Australian Transport and Safety Bureau’s Neville Blythe said early information suggested the plane did not explode on impact, and that was expected to be a big help for investigators.

“We do understand there hasn’t been a post impact fire, which is very good from an investigation point of view,” he said.

“It doesn’t destroy evidence and that type of thing so we will be again taking our time to forensically go through everything in relation to the aircraft.”

In a statement, the company said it would work closely with authorities to determine what went wrong.

Rossair primarily flies in South Australia and runs charter flights including for tourism ventures and mining companies.

The company has been running for 50 years and this is the first fatality it has ever had.

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