An ATSB report into the crash of a Cessna T210 at Roma has found the pilot took off into dark night conditions without a night visual rating.
Cessna T210N VH-MEQ crashed shortly after take-off on 25 March 2013, killing both the pilot and passenger on board. The flight was an early morning departure for Cloncurry.
According to the ATSB, the aircraft departed at 0518, 30 minutes before first light.
"The departure was conducted in dark night conditions," the report states, "despite the pilot not holding a night visual flight rules rating and probably not having the proficiency to control the aircraft solely by reference to the flight instruments.
"During the climb after take-off, the pilot probably became spatially disorientated from a lack of external visual cues, leading to a loss of control and impact with terrain."
As the flight direction was away from the town, the ATSB found there was very little light around except from stars.
"For aviation purposes, daylight starts when the sun is 6° below the horizon which, on the morning of the accident, occurred at 0548," the ATSB found. "This was about 30 minutes after the aircraft took off. As such the only celestial illumination at the time of take-off would have been starlight.
"In addition, due to the take-off direction being away from Roma township, there was very limited ground (terrestrial) lighting to provide visual cues to the pilot during the climb."
The full report is available on the ATSB website.