The four-seat Cessna crashed on Monday in dense bushland near Fernvale en route to Archerfield Airport, in southern Brisbane, from Dalby on the Darling Downs.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said that like many friends of Tom Strachan and his son Noah, his family was devastated by the loss.

“Tom was a larger-than-life character, a strong and principled man with a generous heart, and a wonderful father and husband,” Dutton said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“He was a man whose word you could trust and he supported many philanthropic causes.

“The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with Noah. He was an intelligent, polite and industrious young man in the prime of his life. They leave behind a beautiful family.”

Dutton said pilot Gary Liehm was exceptionally accomplished, and had worked with Queensland’s emergency services.

“He was an affable and knowledgeable person and I offer my sincere condolences to his devastated family and friends,” Dutton said.

Queensland Farmers’ Federation CEO Jo Sheppard said the accident would hit regional Queensland communities, where the three were active.

“Our condolences to the families. Our thoughts are with them during this awful time,” she said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has sent a team to the crash site to collect relevant components for analysis.

“There (are) a number of factors that we’ll be looking at here, from the aircraft itself and from the pilot, but equally the weather conditions,” ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said on Tuesday.

“All of those things will be part of the investigation as we try to build a picture of what were the circumstances at the time and what potentially has gone wrong.”

No mayday calls were reported and it was not until four hours after the flight went missing that the alarm was raised.