A pilot, believed to be a man in his 60s, has died in a light plane crash near Yamba in NSW. A passenger on board the aircraft was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries. NSW Police are investigating the cause of the crash.
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00:00It was meant to be a weekend joy flight, but just after 11.30 this morning, emergency services
00:08were called to the scene. A private airfield at Palmer's Island, a few kilometres west
00:14of Yamba. There they found the wreckage of a light aircraft. It had crashed into a paddock
00:19some distance off the runway. The pilot, a man in his 60s, died at the scene. Another
00:25man in his 30s who was a passenger on the plane was badly injured. Paramedics provided
00:30emergency treatment at the side of the runway. A short time later, a rescue helicopter landed
00:36nearby. The injured passenger was flown to Gold Coast Hospital. Police have not released
00:41the names of the pilot or his passenger. McIntyre's airfield, also known as Yamba Airport, has
00:47been operating since the 1960s. Witnesses said the pilot and his passenger were regular
00:53users of the airfield and were familiar with take-offs and landings on the grass runway.
00:58They said conditions at the time of the crash were fine, with clear skies and a mild south-easterly
01:03blowing. The airfield has been declared a crime scene. Investigators will now begin
01:09piecing together the events leading up to the crash. At this stage, it's not clear who
01:14will carry out the investigation, with both the national investigator and the body overseeing
01:19recreational aviation saying it's the other's responsibility. In the meantime, police will
01:25prepare a report for the coroner. For now, though, the focus is on dealing with the human
01:30impact of a Sunday outing gone horribly wrong.