Community rallies around family of Coffs Harbour plane crash victims

A tight-knit church community is rallying around the family of a popular Gold Coast father and son killed in a plane crash near Coffs Harbour on Friday.

A TIGHT-knit Gold Coast church community is rallying around the family of a father and son killed in a light plane crash in northern NSW.

Matthew Hills.

Jeffrey Hills and his son Matty died when their four-seater plane crashed in to forest outside of Coffs Harbour on Friday.

The wreckage was not discovered until Saturday.

As news filtered back to the Gold Coast of the tragedy, the deeply religious family were being comforted by their Pentecostal church community.

Jeff Hills ran a successful building services company which son Matty also worked for until the adrenaline junkie joined the iFLY indoor skydiving centre a few months ago.

Family friend Jon Galvin, who met Matty Hills on a church mission to the Solomon Islands, remembered both men as great guys with ‘a heart of gold’.

“Matty was very carefree, he had a heart of gold, in fact they both did,” he said.

“Nothing ever fazed them.

“They were very genuine guys.”

Matthew Hills was a keen thrillseeker and loved skydiving and bungee jumping. Picture: Supplied

He said Matty would often pray before diving in to the thrillseeking exploits such as skydiving and bungee jumping that fill his Facebook page.

“His faith was very strong,” he said.

It is understood Mr Hills bought the plane from WA about two months ago and was an experienced pilot.

He had flown the plane to North Queensland just days before the tragedy.

Investigations in to the cause of the crash are continuing.

Anyone who saw or heard the light plane flying in the vicinity of Mount Moombil and Dorrigo National Park on Friday morning should call the ATSB on 1800 992 986 or visit the organisation’s website.

Originally published as Community rallies around family of Coffs Harbour plane crash victims