Emergency crews remain on the scene to determine what caused the accident.

A horrific light airplane crash has killed a pilot and their passenger and left several injured in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

Emergency crews remain at the scene at Parafield Airport, where a plane crashed into a hangar, sparking a large fire and sending a thick plume of smoke over nearby suburbs.

The alarm was raised at 2.11pm, with firefighters rushing to the airport following reports of a crash shortly after take off.

A towering column of black smoke was visible from kilometres away, with residents across the northern suburbs reporting the plume drifting across the skyline.

On arrival, crews reported a “significant” amount of smoke and a danger due to the amount fuel.

Tragically, the pilot and passenger of the plane didn’t survive.

7NEWS understands that dozens of emergency crews were called to the scene to treat the injured, with 10 airport ground crew who were inside the hangar at the time taken to hospital with serious burns.

Metropolitan Fire Service Chief Officer Jeff Swann said the crews, made up by 55 firefighters and 14 trucks, reported “intense flames” at the scene of the crash.

“These fires were intensified by the amount of fuel that was inside the hanger,” he said on Wednesday.

Swann also said that due to the location of the crash in the hangar, firefighting equipment, including the sprinkler system, “were out of action.”

He said that a number of student pilots had to be escorted out of the airport hangar by firefighters, adding the structure of the hangar has “sustained significant damage”

Three of the five planes in the hanger at the time of the crash were impacted by the crash and fire.

South Australia Police Chief Inspector Andrew McCracken said on impact due to “significant injuries, fire and damage” that the two persons on board the plane were declared dead at the scene.

McCracken said that people on the ground in the hangar were injured with a majority hospitalised for injuries and smoke inhalation.

“One remains in life-threatening condition at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, two remain in a serious condition,” he said.

Motorists in the area are being urged to avoid Kings Rd due to emergency vehicle activity and reduced visibility from smoke.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he had been briefed by the Police Commissioner on the “tragic incident” at Parafield Airport, where a small aircraft crashed into a hangar on Wednesday afternoon.

“Tragically, two people have lost their lives, and a number of others have been injured,” he said, offering condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and to everyone affected by the event.

Malinauskas said emergency services remained on site and were responding “with professionalism and urgency”, adding that he was receiving regular updates as more information came to hand.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said there will be an investigation into the crash.

“The ATSB has deployed a team of transport safety investigators from its Canberra and Brisbane offices, specialising in aircraft operations, maintenance and engineering, human factors and survival factors,” he said.

“They will arrive on site on Thursday morning, 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’s technical facilities in Canberra.”

Mitchell said anyone with video footage of the plane, or its immediate aftermath, to contact them.