A Sad Day as There are No Survivors as the Wreckage of DH-84 Dragon VH-UXG is Found

From:  ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au)

Queensland police say the wreckage of a vintage plane has been found in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and a search team has confirmed there are no survivors.

A rescue helicopter sighted the red biplane 14 kilometres north of Borumba Dam just before 2:00pm on Wednesday 3 October.

The plane with six people on board disappeared on its way to Caboolture north of Brisbane on Monday afternoon, shortly after the pilot reported he was in trouble.

On board were pilot Desmond Porter, 68, and his wife Cath Porter, 61, from Tingalpa in Brisbane's east; John Dawson, 63, and his wife Carol Dawson, 63, who are also from Tingalpa; and Les D'evlin, 75, and his wife Janice D'evlin, 61, who are from Manly West.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) spokesman Mike Barton told reporters it was a "high impact crash site".

"The plane is not in a condition that you would recognise as a plane," he said.

"So they have hit the ground exceedingly hard and the aircraft is fundamentally destroyed."

Mr Barton says it is likely the six people on board were killed on impact.

He says their next of kin have been notified and the grim discovery will be felt by the vintage aircraft community.

"I personally knew the pilot and I think the antique aeroplane community are going to be quite upset for a while that they've lost him," he said.

Mr Barton says the crash site was difficult for authorities to reach and its location away from the water means it is unlikely Mr Porter tried to land in the water.

"There were lots of trees to the point where the rescue helicopter was only able to land 200 metres away and then they had to hike up to the crash site," he said.

He says authorities had an idea of where to look because of a mobile phone on board the crashed plane.

"Phones themselves these days talk backwards and forwards to the towers at different stages," he said.

Mr Barton says until today authorities were still hoping to find survivors.

"Aviation can be a cruel child and you only have to make small mistakes and it can catch up on you," he said.

Mr Barton would not speculate as to how or why the plane crashed and says an inspection of the wreckage will go on for several days.

A spokesman for AGL Action Rescue helicopter says their crew is still on the ground searching through the wreckage.

It is understood the red De Havilland Dragon DH-84 VH-UXG - built in 1934 and one of only four in the world - was returning from an air show at Monto.

Queensland police are on the scene and will be preparing a report for the coroner.

Authorities today narrowed their search to the area near the dam based on reports from local residents.

Sixteen rescue helicopters had been searching small plots of the rugged terrain and AMSA was considering putting a boat into the dam to search the banks.

Police superintendent Chris Sang says the grim task of recovering the bodies will begin once the crash scene has been evaluated by specialist investigators.

"Our disaster victim identification team, our scenes of crime officers, as well as our investigators, will need to look at the scene and examine the scene prior to [when] the bodies are removed," he said.

"It looks as though some of the people have actually flown forward of the plane crash and landed forward of where most of the plane is lodged in the trees there.

"It'll be a joint investigation and air safety authorities and the Queensland Police Service will work together on this investigation."

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has expressed his sympathy for the plane crash victims and extended his condolences to their families.  He also thanked the people involved in the search for the biplane.