The pilot of a helicopter that crashed in Victoria, killing all five on board, has been identified as aviation investigators prepare to spend days combing through the wreckage.
The family of 32-year-old Dean Neal said their son and brother was a conscientious and professional pilot.
"Our broken hearts go to the families and friends of those who were flying with him," they said in a statement.
"Your unspeakable loss is understood by us all. We know Dean would have done anything in his power to deliver his passengers safely to their destination."
Meat industry boss Paul Troja, 73, was earlier identified was one of the passengers on the Thursday morning flight.
The Albert Park man's fifth grandchild was born a day earlier, his son Luke Toja told Nine News, revealing his father vowed this trip would be his last before retiring.
Mr Troja, the chairman of Warragul-based meat processing company Radfords, has been remembered as a passionate and accomplished leader.
A 50-year-old Inverloch woman and two NSW men, aged 59 and 70, also perished on board the helicopter when it crashed near Blair's Hut on Mt Disappointment, near Whittlesea.
Arriving at the scene on Friday, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said crews from Canberra and Melbourne will take at least three days to analyse the helicopter crash site.
Drone analysis of the helicopter's flight path, along with assessment of flight control records and weather conditions, will be part of the investigation.
Mr Mitchell said the helicopter operator Microflite had a very strong safety record.
The company has suspended all services until at least Tuesday.
The ATSB said it is the fifth fatal aviation crash across the nation this year, with nine people killed in total.
The crash is also Victoria's deadliest aviation disaster since February 2017, when five people were killed after a charter plane crashed into Melbourne's Essendon DFO shopping centre.
That crash was the state's worst civil aviation accident for 30 years.
The Microflite helicopter was one of two flying business trip passengers in convoy from Batman Park in central Melbourne to Ulupna, near the Victoria-NSW border.
When it didn't emerge from low cloud, the other raised the alarm before landing safely.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said the crash investigation was complex because of the rugged terrain and wreckage strewn across the area.
Bulldozers and graders have been brought in to help access the site.
"It's difficult terrain. It is not friendly for people just to wander into," Mr Patton told reporters in Melbourne.
"We don't want to leave any stone unturned."
Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville thanked emergency services for their efforts on the ground and passed on her condolences.
"It's been a terrible tragedy," she said.
"I know that there'll be many families, friends and colleagues grieving and my thoughts are with them."
The ATSB's preliminary report is expected to take six to eight weeks.
Australian Associated Press
