Walkerston couple Alwyn and Jenny Rogash killed in Finch Hatton plane crash

There has been an outpouring of love and condolences for the family of a Queensland couple who tragically died when their plane crashed into a mountainside.

There has been an outpouring of love, support and condolences for the family of Alwyn and Jenny Rogash who tragically died when their plane crashed into the mountainside in the Pioneer Valley.

The Walkerston couple had been returning from visiting family in Townsville when the shock downing occurred in the early morning on October 28, 2023, the second aviation tragedy in the Mackay district in less than six months.

Their son Steve Rogash took to his social media on Saturday night to let people know that “my parents Jenny and Alwyn have been involved in a plane crash west of Mackay, it doesn’t look good and it doesn’t look like there are going to be survivors”.

He later wrote “it has been confirmed by QLD police that both of my parents have passed away in the accident”.

“My heart breaks for you, I’m so sorry this has happened,” one friend responded.

Smoke rising from the thick tree coverage of a mountain range north of Okuloo and Netherdale where it is understood a plane crashed on Saturday, October 28, 2023. Picture: RACQ CQ Rescue

“There was always room for hope our thoughts are with (you) and your family,” another wrote.

“Such a horrible day for you and your whole family, wish I could be there to hold you,’’ added another.

The couple, who are parents and grandparents, had been due to arrive at Palmyra airstrip at 8.15am.

Alwyn Rogan has been described as an experienced pilot with more than three decades flying.

A keen-eyed Finch Hatton community member had heard the light plane, believed to be a Socata Trinidad aircraft, flying overhead “and suddenly a distant noise” prompted him to call emergency services.

The RACQ CQ Rescue chopper is hovering over a section of mountainous area between Finch Hatton and Eungella. Picture: from flightrader24

An RACQ CQ Rescue crew found the crash site, 5km north of Netherdale, about 11.30am Saturday but it was not until 3pm that a member of the Queensland Police Service search crew was able to be winched down to the area which is described as mountainous and inaccessible by road or foot.

Mackay Whitsunday Detective Inspector Emma Novosel on Sunday confirmed it was the crash site of the overdue aircraft and it was “determined as a result of that initial search that the crash was an unsurvivable incident”.

Disaster Victims Identification Specialist officers have flown from Brisbane to Mackay to help with the recovery and will need to be winched down to the site.

Because of the weather this has been delayed until Tuesday.

Inspector Novosel said it was expected to be “a complex recovery exercise”, describing the terrain as steep, dense, unstable and “very difficult to even walk a short distance”.

Maree, 24, and Rhiley, 22, Kuhrt who tragically died when the Piper Cherokee plane he was flying crashed into Mount Hector on April 2, 2023. Picture: Supplied by Kuhrt family

The terrible incident comes as the district still mourns for the loss of a 22-year-old father, his wife, 24, and their unborn child, who were killed in another tragic plane crash north of Mackay.

Riley Kuhrt, the son of Mackay District senior sergeant Lindsay Kuhrt, had been flying the couple’s new green and white Piper Cherokee when it crashed halfway up Mount Hector Range during a storm on April 2, claiming his life and that of his wife Maree, who was pregnant with their unborn daughter Phoebe.

The couple had flown from Natal Downs Station, near Charters Towers, en route to Lakeside Airpark at Bloomsbury where Lindsay’s wife Marina Had been waiting.

Originally published as Walkerston couple Alwyn and Jenny Rogash killed in Finch Hatton plane crash