Overview
- A Piper Cherokee Lance departed Shellharbour and, after a roughly 400–410 metre ground roll on October 11, 2025, pitched up abruptly, yawed left, climbed to about 50 feet, stalled and crashed, killing pilot Andrew Connors, his wife Julianne Connors and their friend Colin McLaughlin.
- The ATSB’s final report, released in early July 2026, concludes the aircraft’s horizontal stabilator moved to a full or near‑full nose‑up deflection during the takeoff roll and very likely remained that way for the brief flight.
- Investigators relied on CCTV footage and witness photographs to show the stabilator attitude because the wreckage burned on impact, which made detailed component examination difficult.
- The ATSB found no evidence that the stabilator movement resulted from a pre‑existing defect, pilot or passenger medical episode, intentional action, or an external event such as a bird strike, and it reported the stabilator control was selected correctly before takeoff.
- The report noted missed scheduled instrument and avionics inspections that did not cause the crash but reduced assurance about system accuracy, and it flagged that pilots are not normally trained to recognise or recover from an uncommanded pitch‑up during takeoff, a point likely to prompt safety and training reviews.