'Horrible feeling': Haunted by a terrible tragedy

Former owner Bruce Rhoades has constant flashbacks of that tragic day at Middle Island.

DISASTER: The scene of the fatal plane crash on Middle Island. Picture: RACQ Capricorn Helicopter Rescue

THE dreams that have haunted Bruce Rhoades following the fatal Middle Island aircraft crash have been a lasting reminder of the tragedy that ended the life of a 29-year-old UK tourist.

The crash, on January 10 last year, involved one of Mr Rhoades' 1770 Castaway aircrafts, flown by pilot Les Woodall.

Inside the Castaway with Mr Woodall were the 29-year-old woman from the United Kingdom, a 13-year-old boy and a 21-year-old woman.

Now living in Victoria and struggling to grapple with life after the tragedy, Mr Rhoades still has flashbacks to that fateful day.

"After the crash my career in aviation was over. I did and still do suffer from what you could call PTSD," he said.

"My sleep hasn't been very good ... with constant dreams of carrying out CPR on a girl who turned out to be dead.

"We kept it up for an hour and a half until rescue helicopters arrived."

Mr Rhoades said it was when his friend and employee Mr Woodall was carrying out a routine beach check that he realised something had gone wrong.

"He just vanished, he disappeared behind a sand dune and that was not normal procedure," Mr Rhoades said.

"I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I overflew and looked down at what happened and that's when I saw the aircraft crashed on the beach.

"I made a mayday call and I immediately landed to render assistance."

The tragedy led to a community-wide rescue effort involving RACQ LifeFlight and Capricorn Helicopter Rescue choppers, Agnes Water surf lifesavers and the 1770 Larc.

In the days that followed, Australian Transport Safety Bureau and Queensland Police scoured the remains of the aircraft for evidence as to what went wrong.

The impact that the crash and other tragedies have had on tourism at Agnes Water still weighs heavily on Mr Rhoades' mind.

"The damage it's done to Agnes Water not only with the boat catching fire, then the backpacker market, it's done an enormous amount of economic damage to the town," he said.

The 61-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumour and leukaemia in July.

The diagnosis prompted him to speak out about the aircraft tragedy, which he said has destroyed his life.

While Mr Rhoades fears he won't be alive to see the results of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau report, he hopes it will get to the bottom of what caused the engine to fail.