Pilot dies in plane crash near Gympie Tony Moore
October 22, 2010 - 6:31PM
The pilot of a replica Spitfire plane has died when the aircraft crashed near Gympie just before 4pm this afternoon.
The pilot of a replica Spitfire plane has died when the aircraft crashed near Gympie just before 4pm this afternoon.
The Spitfire crashed in a field on Lagoon Pocket Road, about 10 kilometres south of Gympie, at about 3.50pm.
Police confirmed there was one male pilot, believed to be in his sixties, in the three-quarter sized replica Spitfire when it crashed.
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Ambulance crews arrived at the crash site to find he had died.
Crews said there was no evidence of fire but the replica plane had received extensive nose damage during the crash.
The light plane crashed about one kilometre from houses, an emergency services spokeswoman said.
Ray Gresham, who lives 800 metres from Gympie Airport at Kybong, was watching the pilot doing circuits of the airport immediately before he crashed.
“It’s a three-quarter Spitfire , but it is not a local plane and he is not a local pilot,” Mr Gresham said.
“He is apparently in his sixties, the pilot.”
Mr Gresham said the pilot was doing practice circuits immediately before he crashed.
“Yeah, he wasn’t doing anything unusual. He wasn’t doing any aerobatics or anything that I was aware of,” he said.
“He certainly wasn’t doing any aerobatics or anything silly as far as I was concerned. It just seems he stalled it.”
He said he had been told the pilot had “fuelled up” before he had taken off.