It should have been the experience of a lifetime - a flight aboard a vintage Tiger Moth to take in the spectacular Gold Coast coastline.
Instead, it ended with one man dead and the pilot fighting for his life when the warbird crashed in December 2015.
Pilot Ryan Campbell knew 27 seconds after takeoff that something was wrong.
As the plane climbed to 200 feet, the power to the engine dropped dramatically.
Mr Campbell, 21, increased the throttle, but the engine failed to respond and he decided to turn back.
As the plane turned toward home, the warbird's engine stalled, entered into a deadly spin and crashed, killing 58-year-old passenger Gary Turnbull.
Mr Campbell managed to call triple zero from the wreckage despite being trapped in the mangled, upside down plane for more than 30 minutes.
He suffered spinal injuries, as well as head and facial injuries.
Even after the alarm was raised, it took emergency services 45 minutes to find the crash site.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau report released on Friday found the loss of power caused the vintage plane to stall.
ATSB investigators examined the engine, components and fuel system, but could not pinpoint the cause of the power loss.
The pilot had "insufficient height" to recover as he attempted a forced landing in a cleared area near the airfield, the report found.
Despite his age, Mr Campbell was an experienced pilot.
He made aviation history in 2013 when he became the youngest person to fly solo around the world in 70 days, aged 19.
He had worked for the plane's owners, Gold Coast Aerobatic Adventures, for less than a month before the accident.
The ATSB report said the accident highlighted the danger of partial power loss, especially shortly after take-off.
"Following a complete engine failure, a forced landing is the only option whereas in a partial power loss, pilots are faced with making the difficult decision of whether to continue flight or to conduct an immediate forced landing," the report stated.
