A light plane that crashed in the Northern Territory on Christmas Eve killing two people broke apart in the air after it flew near ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie.
A 22-year-old male pilot and his 43-year-old female passenger died when their Cessna 210N crashed east of Katherine in Arnhem Land on December 24.
The aircraft's right wing was found about 300 metres from the crash site, indicating it separated from the fuselage during flight, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau preliminary report said on Monday.
Components were spread across an 80m-long wreckage trail, including the propeller, engine, left wing, nose gear and cabin parts.
A day before the accident, Cyclone Ellie crossed the coast west of Darwin and tracked south before being downgraded to a tropical low.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecast heavy rain and strong-to-damaging winds across large parts of the Top End.
Satellite imagery showed that on the morning of December 24, thunderstorms started to develop along the expected flight path of the aircraft, near to the accident site.
The bureau warned there could be severe turbulence and wind shear with outflows of strong and gusty winds.
The passenger arrived at the Gove airport about 8am and by 8.12am the Cessna was taxiing down the runway.
At 8.41am, authorities received a text message from the pilot advising he expected to land at Katherine Tindal Airport at 10.24am.
The plane never arrived.
At 10.44am the operator called the pilot's mobile phone to confirm the flight had arrived.
When a response wasn't received, authorities raised the alarm and a search and rescue team was dispatched.
The crash site was found on Christmas Day in remote bushland about 237km east-northeast of Katherine.
The ATSB intends to release a final report into the crash after concluding its investigation.
