Veterans’ joy flights end in tragedy as glider, light plane collide in mid-air
The sole occupants of two light aircraft have died after colliding mid-air and crashing into a paddock at Kybong, near Gympie, Queensland police say.
The aircraft crashed near Kybong in the Gympie region.(ABC News)
Emergency crews responded to the incident involving a glider and another light aircraft at about 2.45pm on Wednesday.
“We’ve got two scenes in a paddock nearby, they are approximately 200 metres apart and spread across a bit of a distance,” Queensland Police Inspector Brad Inskip said on Wednesday.
“This is a tragic incident, and quite a graphic scene left there for all the emergency services.”
Police said the pilots and sole occupants in each aircraft, an 80-year-old Caboolture man and a 77-year-old Glenwood man, were declared dead at the scene.
The glider left from a local gliding club, but it’s unknown where the ultralight aircraft came from.
“It’s a terrible scene, terrible incident, terrible for the family and obviously those involved,” Inskip said.
“It’s a small little regional gliding club, they all know each other, so this is going to hit the community very hard.”
The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
