Two people were killed when a light aircraft crashed onto a rural property at Stockleigh, in the Logan local government area south of Brisbane, Australia, on September 7, 2026, starting a grass fire.
According to the Queensland Police Service, emergency services were called to a property on Musch Road at about 11:10 local time following reports that a light plane had come down.
Officers found two occupants – believed to be a 56-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, according to police sources – from the Brisbane suburb of Ascot. Both were declared dead at the scene.
Aircraft departed Archerfield Airport minutes before crash
Initial police inquiries indicate that the aircraft departed Archerfield Airport (YBAF), a general aviation field roughly 11 kilometers (approximately seven miles) south of central Brisbane, at 10:57.
Police have not provided an impact time. Unconfirmed flight durations, attributed to tracking data in Australian reporting, range from between 10 to 18 minutes.
The aircraft was a 1979-built Beechcraft A36 Bonanza registered VH-MPT, according to the Aviation Safety Network. Australian aircraft register data list its serial number as E-1456 and Telford Aviation as its registration holder and registered operator. The A36 is a single-engine piston aircraft.
The crash started a grass fire on the property. Chief Superintendent Mel Adams, the Logan district officer, told reporters on September 7, 2026, that responders arrived at what she called a very confronting scene.
Police noted that a safety cordon remained in place while crews worked at the site, and that no one on the ground was hurt. Authorities said that the fire was contained within about an hour and that no homes were damaged.
Adams has asked anyone who saw the aircraft before the crash, or who holds dashcam, CCTV or other footage, to contact police. She stressed that next-of-kin notification was still under way at the time of the briefing.
ATSB sends investigators to Stockleigh crash site
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said that it had opened a transport safety investigation and sent three investigators from its Brisbane office to the site.
According to the bureau, the team would examine the wreckage and accident site, recover any components of interest for analysis at its Canberra technical facilities, interview witnesses and involved parties, and collect flight tracking data along with pilot records, maintenance records and weather information. It expects to publish a preliminary report in about eight weeks.
Queensland police declared that the ATSB will have carriage of the aviation safety investigation, with the force working alongside it.