Onboard cameras captured the moment two Viper S-211 Marchetti planes collided while trying to film an inverted manoeuvre.

Pilot Stephen Gale, 56, and cameraman James Rose, 30, died when their Viper vertically nose-dived into Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay on November 19, 2023.

They were filming a Jetworks Aviation promotional video involving the other Viper about 12km west of Mount Martha when the planes collided.

Stills from video footage recorded on the surviving Viper (Viper 1) were released in the preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Wednesday, showing the moment of impact.

The two planes clipped wings when Viper 1, carrying a pilot and safety pilot, attempted an inverted manoeuvre.

The separation between Viper 1 and the plane carrying Mr Gale and Mr Rose (Viper 2) reduced and as the ill-fated aircraft moved to the left of the other, the right wings collided.

Viper 2 kept climbing and passed above Viper 1 before inverting and then moving into a near-vertical nose-dive into the water below.

Viper 1 turned towards the location of the collision and the safety pilot observed a splash mark and debris in the bay. The pilot issued a mayday call.

The two pilots in Viper 1 made it back to Essendon airport safely.

Mr Gale, a highly experienced flyer, owned Jetworks Aviation, an Essendon Fields-based business created for the yet-to-air TV documentary Any Fool Can Fly.

A final report will be released at the end of the ATSB’s investigation.