Five people are dead after a plane carrying a group of skydivers crashed and burst into flame at Caboolture.
THE skydiving firm involved in a fiery plane crash that claimed five lives at Caboolture was involved in a similar incident in 2010, when seven people cheated death.
Yesterday, five people – a pilot, two tandem instructors and an engaged couple from Logan – died when a Cessna 206 operated by Adrenalin Skydivers crashed during takeoff at the airstrip, 50km north of Brisbane.
Five dead as plane crashes and burns
Witnesses say the aircraft inexplicably "headed left'' during lift-off and was at very low altitude when it plunged into the ground and burst into flames. There were no survivors.
The victims included experienced instructors Glenn Norman and Juraj Glesk, who had thousands of jumps under their belts, and Logan couple Rahuia Hohua and Joey King, who were parents to six children.
Mr Norman, a husband and father of two young girls, was also a full-time firefighter as station officer at Woodridge, whom friends said was always there to help others.
Adrenalin Skydivers, promoted locally as Skydive Bribie, was running the ill-fated operation. It uses Caboolture Airfield for pick-ups and conducts tandem jumps for tourists, who land on nearby Bribie Island.
Aerial view of the crash site at the Caboolture airfield yesterday. Pic: Jamie Hanson
The Sunday Mail can reveal Adrenalin Skydivers Pty Ltd also was the parent company involved in an accident where an aircraft being used by Skydive Central Queensland crashed in August 2010.
The Cessna 206 plane was experiencing engine trouble on takeoff before it crashed near Gladstone Airport.
A father and two sons, three tandem jump instructors and a pilot were on board, Adrenalin Skydivers reported to media at the time. Five people were injured and airlifted to Gladstone Hospital.
The head of the company, Paul Turner, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The firm's Geebung headquarters, filled with skydiving signage and vehicles, was in lockdown yesterday.
Industry sources described the Caboolture crash as a terrible tragedy.
Joey King and Rahi Hohua, who were among the five dead, had six children between them (Facebook photo).
They said Mr Glesk had been working out of Bribie for about a year after previously being part of his brother Tibor's Caloundra-based operation.
Tibor Glesk, an industry identity, was too distraught to speak yesterday as he struggled to come to terms with his younger brother's death.
John Friswell, of Gatton-based Ripcord Skydivers, said he had known Mr Norman for many years.
He said his former employee and friend had juggled fire-fighting and skydiving.
"He was very much the gentleman skydiver, always caring towards his solo students. Glenn was a high quality instructor, skilled in solo and tandem jumps."
Aero Dynamic Flight Academy managing director and Caboolture Airfield safety officer Bryan Carpenter said the aviation community was left shattered by the tragic accident.
Firefighters at the scene of the plane crash at the Caboolture airfield. Pic: Craig McKinlay
Mr Carpenter said he had trained the pilot involved in the crash, who was a highly skilled and well-liked 24-year-old with around 600 hours under his belt as a sky-diving pilot.
"He was a very quiet unassuming sort of a lad, he was flying part time in order to pay for his degree," he said.
"He was very, very skilled in those sky-diving operations because that's what he'd been doing ever since he had his commercial licence, which is over two years now."
Mr Carpenter said it was impossible to speculate as to the cause of the accident, but it could be anything from a bird going through the windscreen to a mechanical failure or a centre of gravity shift in the aircraft.
Craig McKinlay, 41, was working at a neighbouring waste plant 400m from where the plane hit the ground.
"I heard an enormous explosion and I turned around and a few seconds later … there was just this massive enormous red black fireball," he said, adding that panels of the plane were flung 10m from the wreckage.
Victims Juraj Glesk (left) and Glenn Norman (right) in a Facebook pic taken at a skydiving trip.
Mr McKinlay said staff at the airfield ran to help.
"They could only get so close because of the intense heat and flame," he said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash.
Additional reporting Anthony Gough, Kay Dibben, Rose Brennan, Daniel Meers
How disaster struck just after takeoff at Caboolture yesterday.
A light plane has crashed and burst into flames at Caboolture Airport, near Brisbane.
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