Firefighters have been battling the blaze next to Essendon Airport in Melbourne's north
Firefighters have been battling the blaze next to Essendon Airport in Melbourne's north
Dashcam footage has captured the final moments of a doomed charter plane before it plunged into a shopping centre next to Melbourne's Essendon Airport.

Five people were on board the Beechcraft charter plane bound for King Island, Tasmania, when the aircraft crashed on Tuesday about 9am.

Max Quartermain, 63, a pilot from Melbourne who owns Corporate and Leisure Aviation with his wife Cilla, is believed to have been flying the aircraft at the time.

Greg De Haven, 70, a retired FBI agent from Texas, is also thought to have died in the crash along with two friends during a 'once in a lifetime trip' to Australia, according to posts on social media.

Russell Munsch, 62, who was also from Texas and a founding partner of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr law firm, has been named among the dead by relatives.


It is believed successful entrepreneur Glenn Garland, from Austin, Texas, was among those killed in the crash, the Herald Sun reported.

Mr Garland posted to Facebook regularly about his golfing trip.

His wife was also on the trip, but not on the plane, and is believed to still be in Melbourne.

Mr Garland was the CEO of energy consulting company CLEAResult.

It is thought the two men lived in the exclusive gated community of Spicewood, close to Austin in Texas, which is home to a number of golf and country clubs.

Their wives were travelling with them and are understood to have planned a trip to Great Ocean Road while their husbands went to King Island to play golf.

The group had already played Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne golf courses on Sunday and Monday.

Before Australia, they had visited New Zealand where they played the country's most expensive and premier golf course, Tara Iti, the Herald Sun reports.

Denelle Wicht, Mr De Haven's sister, wrote: 'Dear friends and family, my handsome athletic big brother was killed today in a plane accident while on his "once in a lifetime " trip to Australia.

'It was a charter flight with two of his friends flying to another island to play golf.'

The other passengers have yet to be identified, though nobody on board survived the crash. No one else is believed to have been injured. Unconfirmed reports say two bodies have been retrieved.

In a statement, a U.S. embassy spokesman said: 'We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died in today's tragic crash.

'We can confirm four U.S. citizens were on board the flight. The U.S. Embassy in Canberra and U.S. Consulate in Melbourne are working closely with local authorities.

We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance to the families of the victims.'

The plane suffered 'catastrophic engine failure' shortly after takeoff, according to emergency workers, and the pilot put in mayday calls before crashing into the Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) shopping centre
The plane suffered 'catastrophic engine failure' shortly after takeoff, according to emergency workers, and the pilot put in mayday calls before crashing into the Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) shopping centre
Repeated explosions, plumes of flame and a pall of thick black smoke could be seen billowing from the airport in Melbourne's north as dozens of firefighters battled the blaze on Tuesday, closing off the busy Tullamarine Freeway.

The plane suffered 'catastrophic engine failure' shortly after takeoff, according to emergency workers, and the pilot put in mayday calls before crashing into the Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) shopping centre.

King Island is a popular destination for golfers, with two of its courses ranked in the top two in Australia.

Cape Wickham Links, one of three golf courses on the island, said everyone it had been expecting on Tuesday had already turned up.

'Corporate and Leisure Travel were using that plane...we do own it but we were not involved in that flight this morning,' Mr Nikolovski said.