A HUSBAND and wife with the Royal Flying Doctor Service have been killed after their plane crashed in regional Queensland. Around 7.40am, a single-engine plane plummeted into a sports field adjacent to Mundubbera airport, about 200km west of Maryborough. The plane, which has been identified as a Cessna 206 that was registered to an aero club in Monto, burst into flames on impact, killing the pilot and another occupant.
Police say the plane was completely destroyed. Witnesses reported that the plane had taken off and banked around to the right, as though heading back towards the airport, before falling out of the sky. The debris is scattered across 50 metres and the plane is reportedly a blackened wreckage with only the tail recognisable. The plane is reportedly registered to an owner in Monto, about 100km north of the crash site.
Police said the bodies are badly burned and forensic teams are working to identify them so they can contact the next of kin. They said it could take some time to determine their names because of the condition of the remains. Both of the deceased are believed to have been doctors with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Officials are also preparing a report for the coroner so the deaths can be further investigated.
It is believed the plane encountered difficulties shortly after it began taking off from Mundubbera airport and crashed into an adjacent sports field. An emergency services spokeswoman said there were explosions from the plane that set alight nearby grassland. Firefighters soon brought the blaze under control and worked to make the area safe. The airport has been shut down and additional police sent from Maryborough. The airport reopened around noon. Trevor Harvey from the North Burnett Regional Council had been to the crash site and said the plane had practically disintegrated on impact.
“Put it this way, there’s virtually nothing left of it to look at,” he said.
“There’s no indications from anybody yet as to who owned the plane.
“Being a small community everybody’s in shock, not knowing who’s involved people just don’t know what’s going on.”
He said the planes that used the small airstrip were all privately owned or part of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The airstrip has now been reopened. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority would not comment on the incident, but estimated up to 40 fatalities occurred each year in Australia as a result of light aircraft crashes.
"Because the accident has just happened and investigations haven't even started yet it's not appropriate to speculate," he said.
"It'll be some months before the full picture is pieced together."
North Burnett mayor Joy Jensen said roads adjacent to the airport had been closed and news of the crash was slowly starting to spread through the Mundubbera community.
“Word is just getting out and we’re all wondering who was involved and are concerned for the occupants of the plane,” she said.
“I do have concerns about those individuals and their families, any tragedy like this has devastating ramifications for the family.
“In Mundubbera and the North Burnett, we all know each other so we’re all very concerned.”
Cr Jensen said that the airstrip serviced mostly localised flights so there was a high probability the people involved were from Mundubbera.
“It’s localised traffic so unfortunately we probably do know the people involved.
“We’re just waiting for the police to complete their investigations and get back to us with the details.”
SHOCK rippled through the Monto community yesterday as it was confirmed two country doctors were tragically killed in a light plane crash at Mundubbera yesterday. Monto Family Practice’s Dr Dan Rainolds and Dr Myrthe Runne died when their plane exploded into flames near the Mundubbera airstrip, a few kilometres from the town’s centre, yesterday morning.
The light plane took off about 7.22am. A Mundubbera man – who was near the airstrip at the time of the crash – said he saw a plane “with a faulty sounding engine” and then heard a crash. Maryborough police Inspector Daryl Powell attended the scene and said after getting airborne, the plane lost airspeed and impacted heavily in a grassy paddock adjacent to the air strip.
“The plane exploded into flames and caused a grass fire,” he said. Queensland Fire and Rescue Service personnel extinguished the fire and removed the bodies from the wreck. When the Aviation Authority was informed of the tragedy, it directed forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Glen Rusten, from Maryborough, to carry out the investigation.
Media from several television stations were at the scene by noon but weren’t allowed near for fear of destroying evidence. The job of the forensic officers was made difficult because much of the wreckage was incinerated. North Burnett Council engineer Trevor Harvey said even though it is only a small airstrip it is used regularly by a couple of local businessmen and is vital for the Flying Doctors.
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COLLEAGUES and friends have paid tribute to two locum doctors who died when their light aircraft crashed into fields near Mundubbera Airport yesterday.
Dr Dan Rainolds, 48, and his partner Dr Myrthe Runne, 37, were killed instantly when their Bede BD-4 plane crashed into the grounds of the Small Bore Rifle Club soon after taking off at 7.30am, and burst into flames on impact.
Yugoslavia-born Dr Rainolds and Netherlands-born Dr Runne were both contracted to work in Monto until June next year, but were believed to be heading back to their home in Warwick for a few weeks break.
Work colleagues at Monto Family Practice and Central Queensland Rural Division of General Practice paid tribute to the dedicated medicos.
“Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to their family and loved ones,” a spokeswoman for the practice said.
“They will be sadly missed.”
Monto pilot John MacElroy said the pair had both been avid flyers – Dr Rainolds was a general aviation pilot and Dr Runne a recreational pilot.
“They were very, very nice people – they will be a great loss to the community,” he said.
Mr MacElroy said he first met the friendly couple when they flew into Monto about three weeks ago.
“We organised a shed for his aeroplane – that’s how we got to know them,” he said.
“He loved to fly and he had big plans of flying to Europe. They’re all gone now.”
Mr MacElroy said both doctors had died “doing what they loved”.
Health Workforce Queensland chief executive officer Chris Mitchell said his team were extremely saddened by the deaths of “two fine rural and remote doctors”.
“Dr Dan was a very active locum for the agency for many years, and he provided an excellent service to a number of rural towns during this time,” he said.
“Dr Myrthe Runne was recruited to work in Cloncurry and she enjoyed the clinical work, the warm sun and friendliness of the community, as well as the wide open spaces of western Queensland.”
The Health Workforce’s publication, Heart of the Bush, featured two separate interviews with the doctors, who spoke of their passion for their work in regional and remote communities.
During her interview, Dr Runne professed her love for adventure and her career.
“Because you know your patients well, you can really make a difference and that is the main reason I have become a GP, and I hope that goes for most of us,” she told the journal.
In his interview, Dr Rainolds said he had been globetrotting since he was 13, and spoke of Australia’s “fresh spirit of prosperity and fun that one can see in the old and nostalgic videos of the Beach Boys’ concerts in the ’60s”.
Police would not comment in detail on the incident yesterday, except to say the result of their investigations would be given to the Coroner.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau told the NewsMail it would not be investigating.
