A 65-year-old grandfather and his three young grandchildren – a grandson aged 11, and two granddaughters aged 9 and 6 – have been identified as the pilot and passengers that died in a light plane crash near Canberra yesterday.
The five-seater Cirrus S-R-22 took off from Canberra Airport at around 2.30pm bound for Armidale – a three-hour flight.
Just minutes into the flight, the plane crashed at Gundaroo and burst into flames, killing all on board.
“The collision is heavy, heavy impact, which has caused a fire and, as I said, no survivors,” said NSW Police Superintendent Cath Bradbury.
“When police arrived, with RFS services, there was a small grass fire and obviously a catastrophic collision of a small light aircraft,” she said.
A local resident called emergency services after seeing the flames and smoke on impact.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and police established a crime scene as they continue to investigate.
