A local pilot said the plane's call sign - VH-OFF - had also been spray painted to stop media identifying the aircraft.
"They had an engine cutout on takeoff," the man said.
"I'm a pilot and these things happen. It's a fact of life that accidents happen - it's lucky that this time the two people are fine.
"This is the same plane that couldn't get a wheel to lock down and tipped on its wing at Adelaide Airport not long ago.
"You can see that they sprayed the rego numbers out with a spray can."
Photos taken by The Advertiser show the registration call sign on the plane's tail to be covered in black spray-paint.
Numpty.
The plane's engines are identical to those which failed on a Whyalla Airlines Piper Chieftain which crashed into Spencer Gulf in 2000, killing eight people.
No they're not. They're 40hp short. Next thing will be the calls for an investigation "due to facts uncovered by this reporter about the safety of these engines, which, unbeknownst to the public, are fitted to roughly half of the GA twin engine aircraft fleet!"
Fools.