A light plane crash has left a woman in hospital after the aircraft somersaulted while attempting an emergency landing in a rural backyard.
The woman in her 50s was taken to hospital suffering back pain while another the male pilot, also in his 50s, climbed out of the wreckage with only minor injuries from the crash in the Noosa region of south east Queensland.
Emergency services, including a rescue helicopter, attended the incident off Greenfield Lane in Cootharaba at around 9am on Sunday morning.
The aircraft, which had been taken up by the couple for a joyride, was understood to have been hit by a gust of wind causing it to spin and lose control.
A light plane has been forced down in the Noosa region of Queensland and hit a tree while attempting an emergency landing
RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Aircrew Officer Scott Reeman told The Cairns Post the plane was trying to land in a backyard when it ‘somersaulted’ and crashed into a tree.
‘It clipped a palm tree in a house yard while it was airborne and then cartwheeled end-to-end across the yard and clipped another tree,’ he said.
A Queensland Police Service spokesperson described the incident as a rough landing at a private airstrip.
The woman was flown to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.
The male pilot suffered minor cuts and declined to be taken to hospital.
A female passenger in the plane was treated by paramedics at the scene and flown to hospital