Air safety personnel say they will spend several days at the site of Wednesday's fatal plane crash in South Australia's south-east as they try and work out what went wrong.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators have been working at the scene just north of Mount Gambier where pilot Grant Gilbert, 78, died in a light plane crash, along with his two passengers, 16-year-old Emily Redding and her 43-year-old mother Tracy Redding.
An ATSB spokesperson said the bureau at this stage was not going to speculate on the "circumstances surrounding the accident".
"The role of the ATSB is to conduct no-blame investigations with the aim of improving transport safety," she said.
"We will be publishing a preliminary report within one month and if we identify any safety issues during the course of the investigation, we will communicate this at the earliest possible time."
She said the bureau would examine the accident site and the wreckage for a number of days and may take some pieces back to their facilities in Canberra for further investigation.
"We will examine other factors, such as the pilot's experience, the airworthiness of the aircraft, weather conditions and the coordinates of the charity flight," the spokesperson said.
Mr Gilbert, from Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, volunteered his plane for Angel Flight, a charity that coordinates non-emergency flights to help country people reach medical treatment and appointments.
He was flying the Mount Gambier mother and daughter to Adelaide for medical reasons on Wednesday morning when the TB10 Tobago crashed shortly after take-off from the town's airport.
Police said the conditions were wet and foggy at the time.
A lost philanthropist and a school in mourning
Tributes to the pilot and his passengers have been pouring forth from the local community.
Grant High School principal Fleur Roachock — from the school Emily attended — said the entire community was grieving the loss and sent its condolences to the family and friends of those killed.
"We are putting in place counselling and support services for students and staff," she said in a statement.
"At the appropriate time we will consider how we can celebrate the lives of these valued members of the school community."
Mr Gilbert's son, Ben, said the family and those closest to the pilot were still in shock.
"Grant loved his community. He loved playing his trumpet in his band and he loved to fly," he said.
"He was able to use his personal resources to help others with Angel Flight, flying his plane, which was one of his greatest loves.
"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the two passengers, and the Mount Gambier community."
He said anyone who wanted to send tributes or flowers should consider making donations to Angel Flight.
"He really would have loved that," he said.
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