The two people killed in a plane crash in Queensland have been revealed to be an elderly husband and wife.
The pilot, 73, and his wife, 75, died when their light aircraft plunged into the side of a mountain in the Pioneer Valley, west of Mackay, in Queensland, on Saturday.
The couple are understood to not only be parents, but also grandparents, who lived in Walkerston, a small regional town with a population of less than 3,500.
Queensland Police said the pilot had 30 years of flight experience and that the doomed aircraft, a SOCATA TB20 Trinidad single-engine, was owned by the pilot.
A husband and wife, a 73-year-old man and 75-year-old woman, died after a light plane crash near Finch Hatton in Queensland’s Pioneer Valley on Saturday
The couple had departed Townsville early Saturday morning and were expected to land at Palmyra airstrip at 8.15am.
It is believed that the elderly pair crashed into a ‘mountainous, inaccessible area’ near Finch Hatton, in the Pioneer Valley, 63km west of Mackay.
Emergency services were alerted around 9am after witnesses reported seeing the aircraft come down near Finch Hatton.
Mackay Whitsunday Detective Inspector Emma Novosel said a member of the community who lived in the Finch Hatton area had heard a light aircraft flying overhead ‘and suddenly a distant noise’, the Cairns Post reported.
She said when the local person could no longer hear the plane, he phoned triple-0 just before 9am, prompting an aerial and land search for the site of the crash.
A second call came through when the couple did not reach Palmyra at the expected time.
The terrain at the site of the crash has been described as ‘extremely difficult’
A rescue helicopter crew came across the wreckage in mountainous terrain around 11.30am.
Inspector Novosel said a helicopter was able to return to the site about 3pm Saturday and winch a member of the search team to the ground.
It was identified that the area ‘was the crash site of the overdue aircraft’.
‘It’s been determined as a result of that initial search that the crash was an unsurvivable incident,’ Inspector Novosel said.
‘The terrain in that location is extremely difficult, it’s very steep and heavily timbered and there’s significant debris at and around the immediate location.’
The light plane came down near Finch Hatton, 63km west of Mackay, around 9am on Saturday morning
The n Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) has confirmed it is investigating the incident and is currently gathering information.
Queensland Police on Monday said the search and rescue operation had been postponed due to weather.
Police said in a statement that it will likely recommence tomorrow, depending on wind conditions.
They also said that the family of those involved ‘has respectfully requested privacy during this difficult time as they continue to grieve’.
The ATSB has urged anyone who may have witnessed or heard the aircraft in any phase of its flight to make contact using a witness form on its website.
It is expected a preliminary report will be published in about six to eight weeks.
The ATSB will then publish a final report, detailing contributing factors and any identified safety issues, at the conclusion of the investigation.