News Service from House Harris

Qld: Two men injured in plane crash

BRISBANE, Dec 29 AAP - A 51-year-old man has been airlifted to hospital with head injuries after the light plane he was a passenger in crashed south-west of Brisbane.

The single-engine Lake Buccaneer seaplane carrying the pilot and one passenger hit trouble shortly after take-off, crashing into a paddock about 2km north-east of the Dugandan airstrip near Boonah around 11am (AEST) on Monday.

On landing, the wing of the plane clipped a cement water tank then hit the ground nose first causing significant damage, police said.

The passenger from Maroochydore, with suspected head and facial fractures and a broken arm, was in a serious but stable condition during the emergency flight to Princess Alexandria Hospital in Brisbane, a CareFlight spokeswoman told AAP.

"The passenger is not a pilot himself ... but he said they'd just taken off and were bringing the wheels up and they started to feel the plane dip and they came down just near the airfield," she said.

The 57-year-old pilot from Belmont is in Ipswich Hospital with bruising and possible head injuries.

Both men were initially reported to have suffered only minor injuries from the crash and had escaped from the aircraft before emergency services arrived at the scene.

Greg Neale, a chief flying instructor at the airport, said it would have had to be a forced landing so far from the airstrip.

"As a pilot, my opinion would have to be that something's malfunctioned and he's had to put it down in that clear paddock area because he couldn't reach the airfield," Mr Neale told AAP.

"They haven't got a good glide ratio, those aircraft."

The privately-owned, four-seater aircraft is permanently housed at the airport by a private owner, Mr Neale said.

The Forensic Crash Unit attended the scene and started an investigation.

The Air Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has been notified but will not attend the crash site.

The pilot is required to file a report to the ATSB within 72 hours of the accident, a spokesman told AAP.

AAP ahe/cdh/ldj