A Victoria Police officer and her son were among four people who were killed when the light plane they were travelling in crashed into a hillside near Bathurst, in NSW's central west, last night.
Leading Senior Constable Erin Condon, who was stationed at Ashburton police station, and her son, Matthew Thomas Condon, died at the scene, Victoria Police said this morning.
Police said the twin-engine aircraft, registered to a Melbourne address, had just taken off from Bathurst for Taree when it crashed and burst into flames. There was no mayday call.
Emergency services were called just before 8.30pm and arrived at the crash site about 20 minutes later. Debris was strewn over several hundred metres, and a large area of grass was alight.
"There are four people who we believe were on board, who have died," a police spokeswoman said. "I believe it has burst into flames."
She later confirmed that four bodies had been found, and local police said at least one of the victims was a child.
A spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the aircraft was believed to be a Piper Navajo PA-31, capable of carrying six people.
It was registered in Australia in 1989 and was owned and operated by Timothy O'Brien of Beaumaris in Victoria.
Bruce Hodson, who owns the farm where the crash occurred, said the plane had crashed a kilometre from his house.
"There is nothing left of the aircraft," he said.
Mr Hodson, whose farm is used to teach school children about rural life, said he was surprised by the location of the crash.
"It's not on the flight path."
Ray Pickard, his wife, Cindy, and their children Tim, 8, and Clare, 6, had just sat down to watch television.
"We heard two loud bangs, close together," Mr Pickard said. "It had just started raining and we thought it was a loud thunderclap. We thought 'That's unusual' and we looked out the window and could see flames about 300 metres away."
He phoned Mr Hodson, who was driving home from dinner in Bathurst.
"We arrived back to see all the police, ambulances and the fire brigade, and found a small plane had crashed," Mr Hodson said.
Source:
Officer dies in crash - National - smh.com.au