A mother and daughter from Queensland have been confirmed dead in a light plane crash in the United States with hopes fading that their pilot father will be found alive.
Florida's Venice Police say 42-year-old Christian Kath from Gympie, along with his wife, 43-year-old Misty Kath, and their 12-year-old daughter Lily were in the plane they hired when it crashed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday night.
The family is survived by a second daughter, Harper, aged 10, who was not on the flight.
The bodies of Ms Kath and the couple's 12-year-old daughter have been recovered, but Mr Kath remains missing.
Investigators believe the family had hired the plane, and it crashed soon after take-off.
Mr Kath had recently received his pilot's licence, and celebrated his first solo flight on social media earlier this year.
Discovery of body raised the alarm
Venice Police Chief Charles Thorpe said the first authorities knew of the tragedy was when Ms Kath's body was discovered in the Gulf on Sunday morning.
Police then took a call from the Federal Aviation Administration that a hired plane had never returned, prompting a search for the missing aircraft.
Chief Thorpe said there was no mayday call made before the crash.
On Sunday afternoon, the single-engine Piper Cherokee was found, and the daughter's body recovered.
The search for Mr Kath is continuing, with police and other search boats scouring a 13-square-kilometre area south of where they believe the plane went down.
A dream that ended in tragedy
Mr Kath had posted on social media in March to celebrate his first solo flight.
"I flew solo for the first time today," he said.
"Felt so proud to finally achieve something I've been wanting to do since I was eight years old.
"Started my lessons in late December, and am about halfway through my private pilot licence now."
Mr Kath also included a message to his family saying "it will all feel worth it when we can fly to the Keys for a weekend away" with their two daughters.
"Feel lucky to live and be learning to fly in such a beautiful part of the world," he said.
Since December 2018, Mr Kath was chief operations officer at Daniels Health, a medical waste company in St Petersburg, Florida.
Prior to that, he worked as a production manager at Kenilworth Country Foods, then at the Superbee Honey Factory before moving to Brisbane about 10 years ago.
