Statement can be attributed to Acting Chief Commissioner Colin McNamara
ATSB transport safety investigators returned to the site of a light aircraft accident at Stockleigh, south of Brisbane, on Tuesday morning.
The Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, a six-seat light aircraft, had departed Brisbane’s Archerfield Airport on a private flight, shortly before 11am, according to ADS-B flight tracking data. The aircraft collided with terrain in open ground at Stockleigh, at around 1105.
Tragically, the pilot and passenger on board were fatally injured.
Three ATSB investigators from our Brisbane office were on site from Monday afternoon, and they have been examining the aircraft wreckage, including checking for flight control continuity, examining the engine and propeller, and recovering any recording devices – such as avionics equipment or GPS units – for download and analysis at our facilities in Canberra. Once the aircraft and engine have been recovered they will also be available to the ATSB for further examination if required.
The ATSB’s onsite activities are expected to conclude late this afternoon. However, investigators will continue other evidence gathering activities including interviewing witnesses and involved parties, obtaining and analysing recorded data, and collecting aircraft maintenance and pilot records.
Thank you to those witnesses who have already come forward to the ATSB, a number of whom have described the aircraft’s engine as sounding like it was running rough or spluttering, which is important information for our investigators.
We do continue to ask anyone with video footage, such as from dashcams or CCTVs that may have captured the aircraft in flight to contact us via the witness form on our website: atsb.gov.au/witness(Opens in a new tab/window) at your earliest opportunity.
From here the ATSB will next provide a substantive update on the progress of the investigation when we release a preliminary report, which will detail factual information established in the investigation’s evidence gathering phase, in about 8 weeks.
We will then publish a final report detailing findings and the analysis to support those findings at the conclusion of the investigation. Depending on the evidence available to us and what that evidence points to, that process can be expected to take a number of months.
The report will be published on our website here: Collision with terrain involving Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, VH-MPT, at Stockleigh, Queensland, on 7 September 2026 | ATSB(Opens in a new tab/window)
However, if the investigation identifies a critical safety issue at any time the ATSB will immediately inform relevant stakeholders.