A couple in their 60s are dead and a pilot has escaped without serious injury after two light planes collided midair at an airfield in regional Queensland.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash, which happened when a Jabiru J430 was taking off from one runway while a Piper Pawnee was landing on a crossing runway at the Caboolture aerodrome, north of Brisbane.
Several fire and and ambulance crews responded following the "significant incident" about 10.30am on Friday.
The man and woman in the Jabiru suffered fatal injuries and the other pilot, believed to be in his 70s, survived with minor injuries.
Police Superintendent Paul Ready said the collision occurred "low to the ground" at the eastern end of the airfield.
"It is an incident between two planes that has been a loss of life which is tragic," he told reporters.
Supt Ready said the surviving pilot was assisting investigators and was "probably quite lucky when you look at the damage on the ground".
Queensland Ambulance Senior Operations Supervisor Matthew Davis described the scene as "incredibly confronting".
"Any incident involving the loss of life, particularly under these circumstances, is extremely, extremely difficult and hard, obviously, for the first responders and most importantly for the family," he said.
Police Minister Mark Ryan said the crash was "so sad on many levels" and a full investigation would follow.
"Caboolture Airfield is a very busy place. There are a lot of people there and obviously there will be people impacted by witnessing this event, so there will be support provided for those people as well," he told reporters.
ATSB investigators were at the scene on Friday afternoon and additional investigators from Canberra will arrive on Saturday morning.
Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell urged anyone who witnessed the accident or had video of either plane during their flights to come forward.
The airfield caters to general aviation and ultralight aircraft and is not controlled by Airservices Australia.
A spokesman confirmed the aircraft involved were registered and not linked to the gliding club based at the airfield.
Caboolture Airfield was also the scene of a horrific crash in March 2014 when a single-engine skydiving plane crashed during takeoff, killing all five people on board.
In another midair collision in southeast Queensland, a glider and ultralight aircraft crashed midair above Kybong, near Gympie in November, killing both male pilots.
© AAP 2023