{"id":756800,"date":"2026-06-24T08:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T08:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756800\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T08:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T08:10:20","slug":"pilot-dies-in-light-plane-crash-in-malabaine-near-northam-north-east-of-perth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756800\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot dies in light plane crash in Malabaine near Northam, north-east of Perth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A 76-year-old man has died in a rural light plane crash near Northam, north-east of Perth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Emergency services responded to reports of a plane crash in the small rural locality of Malabaine, more than 90 kilometres from Perth, about 10:50am.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">WA Police said the pilot, the sole occupant of the aircraft, was found by emergency services and declared dead at the scene.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aerials of a light plane crash.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/695c8123238727ceafa8d1a0249263ff.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Police officers assess the plane wreckage. (ABC News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A report will be prepared for the coroner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Aerial footage from Wednesday afternoon showed several police officers assessing the crash site, while a red firefighting vehicle was parked nearby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">There was significant damage to the front of the plane and debris on the ground, while parts of the aircraft were covered in green sheets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The wings were also damaged, with some parts crumpled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The site appears to be near bushland off Great Eastern Highway\u00a0in a remote field.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A wide shot of several cars by bushland.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6cc7f8060aad3edd4b2852076cb6761c.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">At least three police vehicles and additional emergency services are seen by the crash site. (ABC News: Sam Goerling)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said three crews were dispatched and one remained on site on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators deployed from Canberra<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) will investigate the crash.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell described the plane as &#8220;an amateur-built replica Spitfire aircraft&#8221;, and said specialist staff were being sent from Canberra.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aerials of a light plane crash.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/996baa9f6150ea3c602fa426f61059a3.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Police say the plane is a light aircraft and the pilot was the sole occupant. (ABC News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The ATSB has deployed a team of transport safety investigators from its Canberra offices, specialising in aircraft maintenance and engineering, and materials analysis,&#8221; he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;They will arrive on site on Thursday, and over coming days will conduct a range of evidence-gathering activities, including site and wreckage examination, and recovery of any aircraft components of interest for further examination at the ATSB\u2019s technical facilities in Canberra.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A bald man with a beard speaks outside, with a shirt reading Chief Commissioner ATSB.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/383ea896730f2257cf443fbfb38d9204.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Angus Mitchell says a specialist team is being deployed from Canberra. (ABC News: Grace Burmas)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Chief Commissioner Mitchell said investigators would interview witnesses and collect relevant data and weather information, with a preliminary report expected to be published in roughly eight weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The ATSB has asked anyone with video footage to contact them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 76-year-old man has died in a rural light plane crash near Northam, north-east of Perth. Emergency services&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,63812,362105,86,57805,362106,336266,362107,45,218990],"class_list":["post-756800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-northam","tag-northam-plane-crash","tag-perth-news","tag-plane-crash","tag-small-plane-crash","tag-spitfire","tag-spitfire-crash","tag-wa-news","tag-wa-plane-crash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}