Two men have been killed in a fiery light plane crash near a regional airfield that sparked a bushfire.
Emergency crews rushed to Heck Field, a private airstrip north of the Gold Coast, after the plane went down in nearby bushland about 6am on Tuesday.
The 73-year-old pilot from Beenleigh and a male passenger believed to be from Sydney died after the aircraft crashed soon after take off at the Jacobs Well site, police said.
They were the only occupants of a single-engine plane that was headed for a town near Tamworth, in NSW.
"That crash has been so significant that both occupants were unable to survive," police superintendent Brett Jackson said on Tuesday.
The wreckage caught alight on impact, sparking a large fire in bushland about 500 metres from the airstrip, also known as Jacobs Well Airfield.
Police said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.
The pilot's flight history will be probed as part of the investigation into the planned flight at the private airstrip.
"We are aware the planned flight was to a small town just outside of Tamworth, so we have that information," Jackson said.
"As to the intention behind the trip, I don't actually have that information, that will form part of the investigation."
A large plume of smoke could be seen kilometres from the crash site late on Tuesday morning, while about 50 emergency services personnel were on the scene.
The crash site has been difficult to access for the ambulance, police and fire crews due to farmland and a nearby creek.
Water bombers have been called in to help crews working to contain the large bushfire, which is burning through nearby cane paddocks and vegetation.
SES crews were also helping by ferrying resources including forensic equipment across a creek to the crash site, police said.
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