Qld sky dive ends in tragedy
Hours before Joey King died in a plane crash with fiancee Rahi Hohua and three others, he was joking about his fear of skydiving with mates on social media.
They were killed when a light plane, used for skydiving, crash landed and caught fire at Caboolture Airfield, at around 11:30am (AEST) on Saturday.
Witnesses say the plan nose-dived into the ground shortly after take-off, exploding on impact.
The victims included experienced instructors Glenn Norman and Juraj Glesk, and Logan couple Rahuia Hohua and Joey King, who had six children.
FRIENDS IN SHOCK
Just hours before the crash Mr King posted a chilling message on Facebook about his fear of skydiving.
"So I woke up this morning nervous as hell about the sky diving today," he wrote.
"I'm about to conquer my greatest fear. I love everyone lol."
At first his friends responded by jokingly asking him to leave them his speakers and one said "it was nice meeting u bro", then Ms Hohua joined the conversation.
"lol crack up boys", she wrote.
After bantering with his friends for two hours, Mr King made his final post.
"Thanx guyz except for Chuck lol", he wrote.
Within hours of the tragedy, Mr King and Ms Hohua's worried friends returned to Facebook.
"Cuz hope it wasn't you's on that plane! Let us know you alguds," one friend wrote.
"Omg Joseph King that wasn't your plane, was it?," wrote another.
Someone then informed their friends that the couple had died.
"I love you too my bro..... Rest in paradise......:(," one wrote.
Another friend added: "Soooooo gutted right now!"
"Much love stunna gna miss u brother :(," said another.
'The worst we've seen'
Airport safety officer Bryan Carpenter said the plane veered to the left just after takeoff, plunging to the ground and being engulfed by flames within a minute of impact.
Mr Carpenter and Mark Thompson, from the Caboolture Warplane Museum, said it was the worst crash they had seen at the airfield.
"They've had a couple of incidents here but nothing like this," said Mr Thompson, who ran about 200 metres to the scene after hearing a loud thud and seeing a plume of smoke.
Bryan Carpenter, who witnessed the crash, said high-octane fuel burned the plane within a minute.
Mr Carpenter, a flight trainer at Caboolture for 14 years, said it looked to be the worst crash in his time there.
Carpenter told Sky News that the Cessna 206 lurched sharply to its left while flying at a low altitude of around 100-200 feet before striking a crossing runway and bursting into flames.
He said the Cessna 206 carried between five and six people on its skydiving flights.
Another witness, Craign McKinlay said,' Turned around and there was this enourmous big black fireball.'
'There was a lot of billowing black smoke coming up into the air,' said another witness, Leon Zabel.
Air crash investigators returned to the scene this morning.
Follow 7News Brisbane on Twitter
Like Seven News Brisbane on Facebook
