Boy, 9, killed in birthday flight crash alongside dad and sister, 10, as mum wrapped Christmas presents at home
A MUM was wrapping Christmas presents when she was told her two children had been killed on a plane trip arranged as a birthday surprise.
Lucas Mocanu, nine, died alongside sister Lavinia, ten, and their dad Chris, 41, when the single-engine aircraft flipped into the sea near Brisbane, Australia.
Chris's boss, millionaire tycoon and amateur pilot Roy Watterson, 67, also died in the Sunday morning tragedy.
Chris had asked Roy to take him up in his plane as a surprise treat to celebrate Lucas's recent birthday, reports the Courier-Mail.
The trip had been postponed after bad weather last month, said Chris's ex-partner Catherine Di Blasio.
The nurse - who moved with Chris to Australia from Canada 14 years ago - was due to meet them for lunch after they landed.
But by 4pm she had not heard from them and Chris's phone was off.
She said: “Then I thought they were ringing my doorbell, but when I opened the door, there were three child safety officers and they were telling me the bad news."When they came to my house, I was wrapping the children's Christmas presents.
“Even the guy had a hard time telling me, he didn’t know what words to use. It was awful.”
Catherine had earlier dropped her kids off at the aerodrome in Radcliffe.
She told the paper: ”I just told them, 'Have fun guys, I love you'. My son turned round and said ‘I love you too mum,’ and they left.”
Catherine said her daughter, known as Lavi, was gentle and funny and “made you laugh until your eyes water.”
Lucas loved cars and "had a special soul that everyone noticed”.
A Gofundme appeal to raise money for the funerals was set up by the sister of Catherine's new partner, who said she is "suffering every parent's worst nightmare".
'Deeply traumatised'
Generous Roy had agreed to take the family up on a pleasure flight around Moreton Bay and to see Brisbane from the air.
But his four-seater Rockwell Commander 114 is said to have suffered engine trouble moments after takeoff.
Witnesses said it flipped over and plunged into a coastal swamp just beyond the runway.
Aerial pictures showed the 44-year-old plane on its roof in the water as rescuers worked to salvage the wreckage.
Police divers recovered the four bodies around midday.
It emerged Roy's family was waiting for his return at the hangar when they were told of the crash.
“There were a number of family members of the pilot who were at the air ground at the time of the accident,” Police Inspector Craig White told reporters.
“The families became aware when they knew that the aircraft hadn’t returned on site and also they began looking at social media posts.
“The family are deeply traumatised as you would expect."
Describing it as a "tragic accident" so close to Christmas, he said: "This is the last thing that any family need to go through this time of the year."
Insp White said the aircraft was seen to disappear behind two mangroves, where the wreck was spotted by another plane soon after.
Roy founded family-run business the Lincom Group, supplying the quarry, mining and forestry industries, and had recently handed the reigns to his son Stephen.
Chris was an employee of the company.
The firm said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Roy Watterson, our chairman and founder, along with Chris Mocanu, our National Hire Fleet Coordinator and his two children.
“The loss has been deeply felt across the entire Lincom team.
“We were very privileged to work with both Roy and Chris, and we will miss them dearly.”
Pals paid tribute to Roy as an “extremely generous man” who was “respected well beyond the borders of Australia.”
One friend said online: "His passion in life was flying and would spend hours on flights to somewhere in the world or he would just be out flying his own plane."
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating what went wrong.
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