Aircraft Impacted Dam, Two Survivors

A skydiving expedition turned tragic Monday after a single engine Cessna carrying a pilot and six skydivers clipped a tree and impacted a dam outside Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Five onboard the aircraft perished.

Two survivors -- including the owner of Brisbane Skydiving Centre, Brian Scoffell -- escaped the sinking wreckage.

Witness reports indicate the Cessna U206 (file photo, below) failed to gain altitude after takeoff -- possibly due to an engine problem.

"There was smoke coming from the engine and it was going blurp, blurp, blurp," as the plane idled just before takeoff, said Debbie Comollatti to the Melbourne Herald Sun. Her husband was waiting to jump on the next flight.

"Dad's a pilot and he said it sounded like a spark plug was playing up," added Comollatti. "It took off and hit a tree, and then flipped over about 200m (656 feet) from the end of the runway."

Other witnesses told the Herald Sun the plane was trailing a plume of smoke as it went down.

"It laboured a bit. It certainly wasn't a normal takeoff," said Fred van Bockel, whose sons were also waiting to go up. "It lost height quickly and did a slight right turn before the wing flipped. It hit a tree and landed in the dam upside down."

It is believed some members of the skydiving group were tethered together in pairs -- for tandem jumps -- possibly hindering escape efforts. The male pilot also died in the accident.

Scoffell was found by rescuers clinging to the airplane's tail, holding onto one of the deceased victims.

"He (Scoffell) kept asking how everyone was, and that his skin was burning," said Trevor Davis, a local tow truck operator who was one of the first to respond to the accident scene. Davis helped pull Scoffell (right) to safety.

The second survivor, a 27-year-old woman, was found wandering disoriented in a paddock near the Willowbrook aerodrome.

"There was a lady walking across the paddock. I stopped, she came over to me across the paddock and said she'd come out of the plane," saidfirefighter Kerry Sbeghen. "She just asked for help. She had blood and said it was from the plane."

Both survivors were taken to the hospital, and were listed in intensive care.

Investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATBS) were on scene Monday night, although it could be some time before a cause of the accident is determined.

"I have told the ATSB investigators that if we get any preliminary indications of mechanical problems with the aircraft to let us know, to ensure this doesn't happen to another Cessna 206," said Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson.

Brisbane Skydiving Centre's began operating in 1982, according to the company's website. The company had been operating two aircraft, the U206 and a Cessna 182.

FMI: www.atsb.gov.au, www.brisbaneskydivingcetre.com.au