EXCLUSIVE
A student pilot who tragically died during his first solo flight was a talented musician and school captain who was due to graduate from Year 12 this year.
Chkye Tracz, 16, was training for his driver’s license when he took off in a Cessna 172 from Camden Airport, in Sydney’s south-west, at 3.05pm on Wednesday.
He was approved by the instructors to fly a 6km loop unsupervised.
But halfway through the route, when he reached an altitude of 5,000 feet, Chkye encountered problems as he lost contact with air traffic control.
Moments later the plane descended rapidly and crashed into the ground in a paddock in Brownlow Hill, killing him instantly.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Chkye was a talented student at Chevalier College in Burradoo in the Southern Highlands of NSW from an aviation family.
He was a keen flugelhorn player who in recent years performed at the school’s ANZAC and Remembrance Day ceremonies with renditions of ‘The Last Post’ and ‘Reveille’.
Chkye Tracz, 16, (pictured) died Wednesday in a light plane crash near Camden
Emergency services were called to Brownlow Hill Loop Rd at 3.15pm to respond to a plane crash (pictured)
Footage posted online shows veterans decked out in army insignia, holding their hats as Chkye blew the brass instrument to mark the end of commemorative silence at last year’s Bowral ANZAC ceremony.
Chkye also excelled in academics and represented the school in several scholastic competitions, including the winner of the John Fahey Public Speaking Competition and Da Vinci Decathlon in 2022.
He was also a semi-finalist in the NSW Law Society Mock Trial Team Competition last year and was elected Academic School Captain for 2024.
Aviation was in Chkye’s blood and, like his ancestors, he dreamed of becoming a pilot.
His paternal grandfather, Gerald Tracz, who died in 2019 at the age of 79, was a chief officer in the Canadian Armed Forces who also taught students in the Air Cadets Corp.
Chkye’s father Rob grew up and moved to various cities in Canada to support his father’s employment in the Air Force.
Rob, a chef and self-confessed ‘flight nut’ who also has a pilot’s licence, moved to Australia in his early 20s while traveling the world before settling in Berrima, in the Southern Highlands, in the late 1990s.
There he met Chkye’s mother Nedene while working in a restaurant, before the couple settled down and had two sons.
Chkye Tracz (pictured) was Head of Academics in Year 12
He was also a talented flugelhorn player, playing at ANZAC and Remembrance Day ceremonies
Speaking to Southern Highland News in 2009, Mr Tracz said his love of flying saw him marry his wife in the sky.
“We got married flying over the village of Berrima in a Douglas DC3,” he said.
“I’m an aviation nut and DC3s are my other passion, so it seemed right that we get married while flying in one.”
The family’s love of airplanes also manifested itself in making model airplanes
Rob regularly shares photos of his designs in an online community dedicated to making airplane figurines – a hobby he shared with Chkye.
The deaths of the Year 12 students have left the school in mourning following a succession of tragedies after Chyke’s classmate Violet Chanter, 16, died of an asthma attack earlier this month.
The aviation enthusiast reached an altitude of 1,500 feet at 3:07 p.m., and contact with the Cessna was lost less than a minute later
Chevalier College said the two deaths have left their community “heavy with grief.”
“This is an incredibly challenging time as we come to terms with the pain of losing two bright young souls,” the school said in an online statement Thursday.
“The sadness that enveloped our community with the loss of Violet Chanter is now compounded by Chkye’s departure.”
The school opened on Thursday so students and staff can “be together in grief” as the community copes with the tragedies.
Chkye had only joined the AltoCap Flight School in Camden a month ago.
In Australia, civil aviation laws require all aspiring pilots to be at least 15 years old to fly solo and 16 years old to obtain their first recreational license.
The school announced the tragic news in a statement on Instagram
Violet Chanter, who also attended Chevalier College, died earlier this month from an asthma attack
At age 17, students can apply for a private pilot license.
In the aftermath of the accident, AltoCap Flight School has grounded its fleet while both officers and Australian Transport Safety Bureau police investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The ATSB said it would deploy a team of transport safety investigators from its offices in Canberra and Brisbane, specializing in aeronautical engineering, aircraft maintenance and operations, as part of the investigation.
“Investigators will conduct a range of evidence collection activities at the scene, including mapping the site, examining wreckage and recovering aircraft parts for further investigation at the ATSB technical facilities in Canberra,” the report said.
‘Investigators will also seek to interview witnesses and involved parties and collect relevant recorded information, including flight tracking data, as well as pilot and aircraft maintenance data, and weather information.’