Dad shares terrifying moment he saw his son's plane plummet to the ground

'It's hard to describe' - by that's life!

When Jason Lonnon and his son Jesse took to the sky in Queensland last week they had no idea disaster was on its way.

Travelling in separate planes, Jason was watching his son’s small Cirrus plane fly over the dunes of Middle Island. Suddenly the small tourist plane dropped out of the air.

'We thought they were getting ready to land but they disappeared out of sight behind the sand dune and a few seconds later saw the plane wreck in the ground,’ Jason told 7 News.

'It's hard to describe how I felt at the time just knowing that my son was down there in that mess.'

7 News

Landing quickly nearby, the panicked father rushed to the site - fearing what he might see.

'I managed to get the door of the plane open and we started pulling people out onto the beach,' he said. 'There was fuel leaking everywhere and we just got them out as quickly as we could.'

Thankfully his son was okay - coming away with a fractured foot.

7 News

A British backpacker was also pulled from the wreckage, however she was unable to be revived and was later pronounced dead by paramedics. The pilot of the crashed plane is recovering in hospital.

The cause of the crash is being investigated.