A woman has escaped with minor injuries after a light aircraft crashed south of Brisbane early on Good Friday.
Emergency services were called to the scene after reports the AirMed aircraft had made an emergency landing on Lollard Street in Hillcrest, not far from a train track.
Queensland Ambulance Service's Metro South acting operations supervisor James Van den Bogert said an emergency crew arrived at the scene 10 minutes after receiving a call about the light plane crash just after 6am on Friday morning.
The Rescue 500 helicopter was also deployed to the scene.
Mr Van den Bogert said the pilot had removed herself from the plane and walked clear of the wreckage.
"She was found to have some minor injuries, just some bruising down to her lower limbs, and a couple of lacerations to her face. So, on the whole really, really quite well for what we see behind us," he said at the scene.
"I think it's really great that she was able to get out and that she was well enough to do so and didn't have significant injuries."
He said the woman was deemed suitable for road transport, and was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition.
"When you hear plane crash, I think anybody would feel, you know, that sounds pretty awful," he said.
"But we quickly found that the patient was OK, walking, talking, conscious.
"A really good outcome for the circumstances."
Mr Van den Bogert said when he first arrived at the scene he saw significant to damage to the cockpit of the plane and the right side of its engine appeared to have sustained severe damage.
He commended the people who came to the pilot's aid.
"It really shows that the community will come together to help people who are in need and, I think, that's really, really important, and a great thing to see," he said.
Neighbours ran to help after hearing 'large crashing noise'
Stuart Davies lives near the field where the aircraft landed.
He was already awake when he heard a "large crashing noise" and initially believed a carriage may have fallen off a train.
Mr Davies said he jumped out of bed and went outside, and, after seeing the plane, scaled the fence and made his way towards it.
"[The pilot] got out and then I met her at the plane, and she was limping, so I supported her away from the plane and then towards the track," he said.
"Had to get her over the train track and to safety on the other side of the train track and in a seat."
Mr Davies said the pilot seemed to be "pretty together" despite the circumstances.
"I just don't know how – because the whole front of the plane is smashed in, so I don't know how. She's pretty lucky, I think, very lucky," he said.
"She did a good job doing what she did, I reckon, not hitting my house obviously and finding a ... fairly clear spot."
Mr Davies's neighbour Jane Littlejohns said she saw him jump over the fence and help the pilot.
"It was scary not knowing if she was OK or not, but once I saw she was out, she was fine, I was alright," she said.
"A lot of people were shocked, they couldn't believe that it had happened."
Heidi Dunstan said she was woken by the sound of the crash, which she also first thought might have involved a train.
She said she was surprised the pilot was not more seriously hurt.
"It's wild that she's alright, including that there are so many houses around here," she said.
"Honestly, it's so amazing that she's okay, the way that even it has crashed unfortunately, it's not in a really tragic way – which is really good.
"We are hoping she recovers well."
AirMed confirmed in a statement that it had notified the Civil Aviation Safety Authority about the incident and said it was assisting the Australian Transport Safety Bureau with its investigation.
"The plane was transporting freight between Bankstown Airport and Archerfield Airport when it was forced to land in a field at Hillcrest about 15 kilometres from Archerfield," an AirMed spokesperson said.
Anyone with video footage of the incident has been urged to contact police.
It's the third aircraft crash reported in Queensland over the past week.
A young couple and their unborn child died near Proserpine on Sunday, after the plane they were travelling in to a pregnancy appointment crashed in bad weather.
Cattle industry identity Alan Acton was killed in a helicopter crash on Tuesday at a remote property in central Queensland.
