Devastating detail of deadly plane crash near Fernvale, Qld

Police say it will take some time to determine the cause of a plane crash that killed three people, including a millionaire agribusiness leader and his son.

Police have said it’s too early to determine the cause of a light plane crash in regional Queensland that killed three men, including a millionaire agribusiness owner and his young son.

Police instigated a search for the plane after it failed to arrive at Brisbane’s Archerfield airport at 10am on August 29.

The plane left Mr Strachan’s Roma property in western Queensland on Monday around 7.20am before landing at Dalby.

Inspector Mick Thiesfield confirmed the Cessna aircraft left Dalby at 9am after landing there for “a short amount of time”. The aircraft reportedly lost contact with air traffic support at 10am.

Inspector Mick Thiesfield said it would be a long and difficult investigation.

The plane was subsequently discovered around 2.45pm in the dense bushland 40km west of Brisbane, which first responders had to access on foot.

Emergency services found there were no survivors at the scene near the small rural town of Fernvale.

The Courier-Mail revealed millionaire agribusiness leader Tom Strachan, 48, his son Noah, 20, and renowned senior pilot Gary Liehm, 63, were on-board the plane when it crashed into the remote scrub.

On Tuesday, Inspector Thiesfield said the investigators had worked to preserve the crash site and the bodies were still in the wreckage of the plane.

“At this stage, our primary focus is obviously (the) safe removal of persons that were actually on the aircraft and scene security so we can get an accurate picture of what happened,” he said.

The plane crashed in a remote area near the town of Fernvale. Picture: 7 News

The inspector told the media that the identification of the men and the safe retrieval of their bodies would be a main priority for police during the investigation.

He said police have contacted the next of kin for the people they believe were on-board the plane but would not confirm the identities of the dead men.

Inspector Thiesfield warned it would be a long and difficult investigation, especially due to the remote location and the scattered debris from the crash. Police are using ATVs to access the crash site, which is “quite a hike” from their command post.

“There is wreckage (from the plane) over the hillside of that location and it’s going to take some time to work our way through the investigation of the scene,” he said.

The plane wreckage is scattered in a wide area, police say.

“The aircraft is displaced. It’s over a period of some distance and it’s going to take some time to put those parts together … to reconstruct the aircraft to try to determine what happened.”

When asked whether the poor weather conditions could have contributed to the light plane crash, the inspector said investigators wouldn’t rule anything out.

“It’s too early in the investigation to say exactly what caused the accident,” he said.

He said the crash site would likely remain guarded through to Wednesday as investigators tried to preserve the scene and determine the cause.

Pilot Gary Liehm, who reportedly died in a plane crash, was known for transporting celebrities like Chris Hemsworth.

The forensic crash unit from Ipswich is conducting an investigation with the assistance of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The state coroner is also investigating the aircraft incident.

Mr Liehm, 63, was believed to be flying the plane at the time of the crash. The very experienced pilot was the chief executive of Executive Helicopters and had more than 40 years of experience.

The elder Strachan was best known for creating the AWX empire and leading the way for agribusiness and regenerative farming practices.

Tom Strachan of Packhorse Industries was apparently killed in the crash.

Noah Strachan was allegedly one of the men on-board the plane.

His son was employed as an analyst at a Brisbane real estate firm while he studied at Queensland University of Technology.

Investigators are appealing for anyone to come forward if they witnessed the aircraft travelling through the Fernvale or Lowood area after 9am or heard a plane flying close to the ground.

Originally published as Devastating detail of deadly plane crash near Fernvale, Qld