A year after a seaplane plunged into a river north of Sydney, killing all on board, friends of the Canadian-born pilot have reflected on the tragedy.
The DHC-2 Beaver, piloted by Gareth Morgan, crashed on December 31 while returning to Sydney with high-profile British businessman Richard Cousins and his family.
The group was completing a Sydney Seaplanes sightseeing trip north of the city when the plane made a sharp turn after take-off and nosedived into Jerusalem Bay on the Hawkesbury River.
Mr Morgan, Mr Cousins, his adult sons Edward and William, fiancee Emma Bowden and her 11-year-old daughter Heather all perished.
Mr Morgan, an experienced pilot, was mourned by family and members of his Sydney church following the crash.
Friend Caroline Przibilla often thinks about the 44-year-old and says the holiday period is a particularly tough time for those left behind.
"Gareth was a true gentleman and man of honour, who walked out his beliefs in a loving God," she told AAP on Monday. "Gareth will never be forgotten."
Ms Przibilla, who started a memorial Facebook page after the crash, thinks too about the Cousins family. She says there's "no logic" to the tragedy.
Friends are continuing to post tributes to Mr Morgan online.
"One year went by quickly rip Gareth," one wrote.
"Truly one of the best people I have ever had the pleasure and honour to call one of my closest friends," another added.
The Australian Transport and Safety Bureau earlier this month released an interim report which included images recovered from a passenger's camera found in the submerged wreckage.
The ATSB is now looking at factors surrounding the pilot's health and medical history as well as whether flight recording systems should be fitted to some lightweight planes.
Businesswoman Maria Antwan recently recounted her "bucket list" flight with Mr Morgan just a day before the crash.
She chatted with him about his "dream job" - commercial flying - which he planned to pursue.
The next day she turned on the news and was shocked to see the crash.
"I just couldn't believe it. It didn't seem real and I couldn't help but think 'That could have been me, I could have died'," she wrote in a blog post.
"I think about how they didn't get another day, let alone another year."
The final ATSB report into the crash is due in the first half of 2019.
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