A plane operated by charter company Rossair hit the ground almost vertically when it crashed in the South Australian Riverland, a preliminary report has found.
The crash in May killed the company's chief pilot Martin Scott, 48, fellow pilot Paul Daw, 65, and Civil Aviation Safety Authority inspector Stephen Guerin, 56.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau says its investigation is continuing and includes an examination of the flight manoeuvres being carried out before the plane came down near the Renmark Airport.
Its preliminary report details some of those manoeuvres, which included practice holding patterns around the airport and a practice runway approach.
The plane's last transmission to air traffic control advised that it was preparing to depart on runway 25 to conduct further airwork in the circuit area of the runway.
"A witness at the airport reported that, prior to the take-off roll, the aircraft was briefly held stationary in the lined-up position with the engines operating at significant power," the ATSB report released on Friday said.
"The take-off roll was described as normal however, the witness looked away before the aircraft became airborne."
Data received from the plane ceased about 60 seconds after takeoff with the last recorded information putting it at an altitude of about 200 metres.
The aircraft wreckage was located about 228 metres from its last recorded position.
"On-site examination of the wreckage and surrounding ground markings indicated that the aircraft impacted terrain in a very steep, almost vertical, nose-down attitude, and came to rest facing back towards the departure runway," the ATSB said.
The report said the tail section of the plane separated from the main cabin and the cockpit and instrument panels were extensively damaged.
At the time of the crash, the Rossair plane was involved in training exercises to allow Mr Daw to return to the company as a pilot after working for some time with an Adelaide flying school.
The ATSB report said Mr Daw was flying from the front left control seat and Mr Scott from the right-hand seat.
Mr Guerin was observing and assessing the flight from the first passenger seat directly behind the two control seats.
Rossair said there were no issues with maintenance of the 37-year-old Cessna 441 Conquest as far as it was concerned.
The plane was not fitted with a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder, but was not required to have either.
The ATSB said it would issue a final report within 12 months.
