Timeline of fatal Sydney seaplane flight

WHAT HAPPENED ON NEW YEAR'S EVE 2017 TO THE SYDNEY SEAPLANE?

3pm - British businessman Richard Cousins, four members of his family and Canadian pilot Gareth Morgan board an eight-seater seaplane at Cottage Point to return to Rose Bay.

3.05pm - Flight starts taxiing towards Cowan Creek take-off area for the planned 35-minute flight south to Sydney.

3.11pm - Flight lifts off the water. A photograph from the front seat passenger's recovered camera reveals the DHC-2 Beaver is airborne and heading northeast.

3.12pm - A person on the water takes a photo of the seaplane as it heads east towards the Hawkesbury River where it was expected to rise above the terrain and turn south to Rose Bay.

3.12pm - A final picture is taken by the passenger at Little Shark Rock Point moments before the plane turns and heads west.

3.13pm - Several witnesses see the plane head "directly" towards Jerusalem Bay - a long and narrow stretch of water surrounded by steep terrain.

- Within minutes later witnesses see the plane, now 1.75km from where it turned west, make a sharp right turn and nosedive into the water.

- "The aircraft collided with the water in a near vertical position," air crash investigators say.

Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau interim factual report.