Today, a small plane holding five people crashed into the DFO near Essendon Airport, killing everyone onboard.
“It’s churning up inside me something chronic at the moment. I’ve felt safer with Max than flying commercial airlines around the world.”
Wall emphasised that Quartermain was “outstanding” when it came to airplane safety – obviously, there was nothing he could do to prevent the “catastrophic engine failure” that occurred in today’s tragedy.
“He was always spot on. If he wasn’t happy the plane was packed… He’d repack the plane again. He’d done everything properly.“We used to have a saying on radio, ‘relax with Max’, and that’s what we did.”
Wall also confirmed that Quartermain was, in fact, not flying his own plane, having hired one from Bendigo.
“I woke up and I saw it on the news. I think everyone in Australia did, and I just felt sick… very sick. I had a shower and came downstairs, and I wanted to know what sort of plane, because I knew he had the King Air, and I’d been on the plane probably 40 or 50 times with Max over the course of the last 10 to 15 years… we’ve never had any issues.”
Wall said that he thought Quartermain’s love for flying was because of “the company”.
“He loved the passion… he loved being with you. He was a fantastic entertainer. A remarkable person.”
When asked by Waleed Aly whether he and Max had plans for the future, Wall heartbreakingly responded with “always”.
“This morning, if Max would’ve said to me, ‘listen, I’ve got a spot on the plane, you want to come over and play golf this morning over at King Island, Leslie (his wife) would have packed my bags and been on my way.”
We remember pilot Max Quartermain with his friend of fifteen years, Phil Wall. #Essendon #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/8HQ3wvUKEy
— #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) February 21, 2017
