A tourism operator struggling to come to terms with the horrific aircraft accident that killed one and injured three others on Queensland's central coast has been left to clear up the wreckage.
1770 Castaway owner operator Bruce Rhoades was flying a group of tourists to Middle Island, near Agnes Water, for an overnight camping trip when he saw his second aircraft, being flown by his best friend, crash on a remote stretch of beach in front of him on January 10.
![Bruce Rhoades has had to call on friends to help him remove the wreckage from Middle Island.](/web/20170126081911im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/p/1/z/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtyo2k.png/1485342916367.jpg)
Mr Rhoades immediately landed his aircraft and ran to the wreckage to pull the three passengers, a child and two women, and the pilot from the wreckage.
He performed CPR on one of the women for an hour before emergency services declared her dead.
![Les Woodall remains in hospital after the fatal crash.](/web/20170126081911im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/p/8/d/r/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gtyo2k.png/1485342916367.jpg)
The other three were airlifted to hospital - the 13-year-old boy in a stable condition to Rockhampton and a woman and the pilot, both in critical condition, to Brisbane.
Mr Rhoades said the young boy, Jesse, remains in a wheelchair after both ankles were damaged.
He said the 29-year-old Irish woman was still a fair way from making a full recovery after she suffered a serious head injury.
His friend and pilot Les Woodall remains in rehab where he is expected to stay for a number of months.
The traumatic events have taken a toll on the Agnes Water local who said he can't remember much of what happened on the day.
"I have had a military background, a command background and I have never been shocked by anything like this before," Mr Rhoades said.
"In fact, many parts of the day, even though I have been told that between Serge and I we got everyone out of the wreckage and the boy's father helped as well, I have no memory of that apart from grabbing the pilot by the belt.
"There are parts that are crystal clear, like giving the girl who was deceased CPR for over an hour, I remember that because I knew we couldn't stop."
Air crash investigators assessed the wreckage in the days following the incident to determine what went wrong.
The aircraft's engine has since been removed and transported to Brisbane for analysis and Mr Rhoades said he is desperate for answers.
"I just want them to find something," he said.
"The worst result of all will be if they can't find what caused the engine to fail. We need to know."
The difficult task of cleaning up the wreckage has fallen to the still-shaken Mr Rhoades.
"It is my responsibility to get the wreckage off the beach and two pilot friends have flown in from New South Wales to help me do that," he said.
"It is on a remote island where you cannot get proper vehicular access... so I have been given the responsibility of cutting the wreckage up into manageable sized pieces and securing it back at our airfield pending on whatever the coroner wants to do with it."
1770 Castaway's overnight camping trips resumed on Sunday, however the number of trips have been scaled back to help Mr Rhoades ease back into work and give Mr Woodall enough time to get better.
"It's hard to see the happy side of life on just about anything now, however I find that when I mix with our customers that we have who are all full of enthusiasm, it tends to rub off, it is kind of a good feeling mixing with them," he said.
"I am just scaling down the operation to what I can manage on my own right now, I don't want too much pressure on myself and also I imagine sooner or later we will get a second aircraft.
"I would hate to just put another aircraft in and another pilot in right now, it would just be like sending a message to my friend (Mr Woodall) we don't need you anymore, thanks for that."
A preliminary update from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau was expected to be released within the next two weeks.