Six missing after vintage plane vanishes

A 1934 De Havilland Dragon takes off from an Australian runway.

This plane is now missing with six people on board.

Rescuers are scanning the dense forest for signs of the antique aircraft, which was flying across Queensland, but it's slow going.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) AGL ACTION RESCUE CEO DAVID DONALDSON, SAYING:

"It's hilly terrain, its also heavily wooded so even if you flew right across the top of it if you weren't able to look right down through the trees, you may not necessarily see anything on the ground. So, it is a slow search and they need to do it in a lot of detail to be sure that they have covered it properly."

Bad weather is hampering the search, but one helicopter pilot said there was still hope of finding survivors.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) HELICOPTER PILOT ANDREW CATON, SAYING:

"There's certainly a chance that people could still be out there, that's for sure. Because we don't have a lot of information into what state the aircraft was in when it actually got on the ground there is still a very good chance that people could be alive so we'll keep searching and to the best of our ability try and find those people."

Pilots are combing an area of 210 square miles for the rare plane and its passengers.