Pilot identified as Greg Ackman, 73
Updated ,first published
The light aircraft that crashed on a small runway south of Brisbane, killing the pilot and passenger of nearly 50 years, was a kit aircraft powered by a car engine that was involved in a serious accident years ago.
Pilot Greg Ackman, 73, from Beenleigh, and his passenger Tony Scopelliti, from Sydney, were removed from the plane following the crash at Heck Field, an airstrip within the Gold Coast Sports Flying Club in Jacobs Well, in the early hours of Tuesday.
The plane crash-landed shortly after takeoff and skidded off the runway, igniting a large grass fire that burned for hours.
Angus Mitchell from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau told Nine the plane was an Avanti kit-built aircraft.
He said the plane was powered by the same engine as a car.
“It’s a Subaru; there’s a turbocharged four-cylinder engine in there,” Mitchell said.
He said the ATSB needed to “meticulously piece together what we can from the accident”.
“We’ve got some pretty impressive CCTV footage from the airport here, but probably more importantly we’ve got some sound and that sound will probably give us a much bigger clue about the engine at the time,” he said.
“We know it looks like a lot more effort went into the launch than we expected.”
The plane has been registered since about 2006, Mitchell said.
“He’s about 20 years old.
“It had a pretty serious accident in about 2010, so we will definitely be focusing on maintenance throughout the life of the aircraft.”
He said the safety bureau had previously investigated the reliability of kit-built vehicles and found that they were involved in crashes more often than factory-built aircraft.
A friend said Ackman had been flying since he was a teenager and owned several planes, all with the distinctive red nose.
Police Inspector Brett Jackson said CCTV footage of the crash recorded at the airstrip would form part of the investigation.
Heck Field is a private airport where people rent hangars and fly private flights.
The flight plan submitted to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority stated that the plane was heading to a town near Tamworth in north-eastern NSW.
Fire crews said that the plane stopped in the bushes at the end of the runway and a cloud of smoke rose from the plane.
The cane fields and pastures caught fire, trapping Ackman and Scopelliti in the cockpit.
In addition to SES personnel, many fire brigades responded to the fire with a total of 50 police officers. The fire was brought under control at 4.45pm and emergency crews were still monitoring the scene and treating back burns at 7.30pm, nearly 14 hours after the crash.
Smoke from the fire affected people in the area, including schools.
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Cloe Read is the Brisbane Times’ crime and courts reporter.Connect with: X or email.
