Canberra plane crash – Grandad and grandkids six, nine & 11, killed after aircraft plunges 9,000ft & bursts into flames
A GRANDAD and his three grandkids have been killed after a plane crashed just minutes after taking off.
The five-seater Cirrus SR22 burst into flames after plunging 9,000ft in Gundaroo, Australia.
A 65-year-old man, an experienced pilot, was on board with two granddaughters, aged six and nine, and his 11-year-old grandson.
Dramatic pictures showed huge plumes of smoke filling the sky as firefighters, cops and paramedics rushed to the scene.
Police Superintendent Cath Bradbury said there were no survivors from the horror crash.
She said: "When police arrived with RFS services there was a small grass fire and obviously a catastrophic crash of a small light aircraft.
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"The RFS extinguished the plane - unfortunately there are no survivors."
The grandad, from Bunya in Queensland, was understood to have had hundreds of hours of flying experience.
His three grandchildren were from New South Wales, the Courier Mail reports.
The plane took off at around 2.36pm local time on Friday, according to flight data tracking.
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But it started to lose speed after an initial steady climb into the air while en route to Armidale.
Traffic control frantically tried to get through to the pilot as the plane started to plummet 16 minutes after take off.
Within seconds, however, the jet smashed into the ground near Lake George.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene after horrified witnesses saw flames raging.
The area has been cordoned off while cops investigate.
Supt Bradbury said there were "minimal witnesses" to the crash.
She added that police would be working through the night to get to the bottom of what caused the jet to plunge.
The Cirrus SR22 is a single-engine aircraft that has been built since 2001 by US firm Cirrus Aircraft.