Cootharaba light plane crash: Woman taken to hospital after rough landing

A woman remains in a Sunshine Coast hospital following a dramatic light plane crash in a Noosa region backyard as a key safety watchdog reveals details of an investigation. WATCH THE VIDEO

A woman remains in a Sunshine Coast hospital following a plane crash across a Noosa region backyard at the weekend.

Emergency services, including a rescue helicopter, were called to a property off Greenfields Lane in Cootharaba about 9am on Sunday after reports of a light plane crash in a backyard.

The aircraft “somersaulted” and then “cartwheeled” during the incident.

The pilot and his wife, both in their 50s, managed to climb out of the wreckage without serious injury.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the woman, who had back pain, was flown to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.

A woman has been taken to hospital after a light plane landed roughly in a Sunshine Coast back yard.

A hospital spokeswoman said she remained there in a stable condition as of Monday morning, November 13.

The pilot suffered minor cuts and declined transport to hospital.

A woman in her 50s was flown to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital after a light plane she was in crashed in a Noosa region backyard on November 12. Picture: RACQ LifeFlight

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed it would investigate the incident.

A spokesman said that “due to the scope” of the probe, investigators would not travel to the site.

He said that instead, they would collect “a range of evidence” including pilot and witness interviews, any recorded data, photographs taken at the incident site as well as maintenance, weather and other records.

RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Aircrew Officer Scott Reeman said the plane was coming in to land when it “somersaulted” and crashed into a tree.

“It clipped a palm tree in a house yard while it was airborne and then cartwheeled end-to-end across the yard and clipped another tree,” he said.

It is understood the plane went down after it hit a gust of wind, which spun it around and caused it to lose altitude.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman said the plane had an “emergency, low impact landing”.

It was the third incident the Sunshine Coast LifeFlight team had been called to in three days, after another plane crashed into waters off the Sunshine Coast on Friday, November 10, and a paraglider was seriously injured after falling 10m near the Cooloola Great Walk later that day.