An experienced pilot killed along with his girlfriend when their seaplane crashed into Perth's Swan River on Australia Day has been remembered as a great mate, beloved father and respected professional.
Peter Lynch and Endah Cakrawati died when his Grumman G-73 'Mallard' flying boat broke up on impact in front of horrified families on Thursday afternoon.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's investigation into the accident could take 12 months, although a preliminary update is expected in 30 days.
Mr Lynch's friend Rod Kinnish said the 52-year-old had a vision for an air park at Evans Head in NSW and was instrumental in establishing an aviation museum.
He described the mining engineer as a passionate and loyal friend who 'made things happen'.
'We have lost a true friend, a true visionary and an absolutely brilliant Australian,' he told 6PR radio on Friday.
In a 2013 interview with Down Under Aviation News, Mr Lynch said he'd wanted to be a pilot since he was a boy.
'The most enjoyable aspect of flying is the pure pleasure of getting up in the sky and having the freedom to go virtually anywhere,' he said.
The father of three had moved from Brisbane to Perth last year and was the director of business development at Fortescue Metals Group.
He was remembered by chief executive Nev Power as a 'great mate'.
'He brought energy, enthusiasm and a great team spirit to the role and he will be missed enormously,' he said.
Clive Palmer, whose Mineralogy was involved in a hostile takeover of Mr Lynch's Waratah Coal, said he had provided a vision to develop the Galilee Basin.
'His zest for business flowed into his personal life, where his passions for restoring cars, boating and flying, were infectious,' he said.
Ms Cakwarati, 30, was working in marketing at coal company Cokal, which Mr Lynch started and where he'd previously been a non-executive chairman.
WA Police Acting Commissioner Stephen Brown was doing a television interview from the South Perth foreshore as the tragedy unfolded.
'I heard a change in the tone of the aeroplane that was above my head and the people in front of me were clearly distracted,' he told reporters.
'I turned ... to see the plane had crashed, that it clearly had broken at least in two significant parts and was sinking very quickly.'
Vision taken by shocked witnesses and posted on social media showed a huge plume of water as the plane hit nose-first.
'The plane seemed to be banking and then it looked like it was turning too sharply and just seemed to fall into the water,' Mark Annette-Stuart told AAP.
Mr Lynch's former partner, Laura, posted on Facebook: 'With great difficulty, I am unbearably saddened to confirm that my great friend and the father of my children passed after a tragic accident.'
He had been participating in a pre-fireworks show.
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