The plane crash that killed four people has left the Victorian aviation community devastated, opened a family's old scars and raised questions that will have to be solved by the investigators.
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The cause of the crash between two light planes on Wednesday is not known and is under investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is expected to update on the incident in about 30 days.
There is no indication for now that either pilot was at fault and a chief instructor from the Bendigo Flying Club said "the nature of the accident didn't seem to be easily explained".
"The experience of pilots in Victoria and probably Australia has been challenged a bit by this accident," Linda Beilharz said.
Ms Beilharz shared the grief of losing Chris Gobel, a 79-year-old man described as an aviation "legend" who was planning to retire later this year.
His death while flying with a 27-year-old Melbourne West woman yet to be identified has hit a family that suffered an equally tragic loss 15 years ago.
Gobel and his wife Wilma lost son Anthony, 35, in a light plane crash in NSW in 2005.
Ms Beilharz said the family was intricately involved with aviation.
"It took quite a bit of time to recover from that tragedy and this now just seems a repetition of it for Wilma," Ms Beilharz told AAP.
"It doesn't make sense, it's not fair."
Australian Associated Press
