Two Die in Light Plane Crash Near Gold Coast

Two men, a veteran pilot and his longtime friend, died in a light plane crash at a private airfield near the Gold Coast on Tuesday morning, sparking a grass fire that challenged emergency responders for hours.

The incident occurred shortly after 6 a.m. at Heck Field, part of the Gold Coast Sport Flying Club in Jacobs Well, about 55 kilometers south of Brisbane. Greg Ackman, 73, from Beenleigh, was piloting the experimental Vans RV-8A aircraft when it failed to gain significant altitude during takeoff, reaching only a couple hundred meters before skidding off the runway into bushland. The plane, a homebuilt kit model powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder Subaru engine typically found in cars, burst into flames upon impact. Tony Scopelliti, 72, from Sydney's Richmond area, was the passenger. Both were pronounced dead at the scene after being trapped in the cockpit.

The aircraft had been registered since around 2006 and was approaching 20 years old. It had a history of issues, including a serious accident in 2010 caused by engine failure. The two friends were en route to Barraba, near Tamworth in northeast New South Wales, a roughly 600-kilometer flight, to inspect another plane....