"As I knew them, personally and professionally over time, we had built the trust we needed to succeed in our endeavours through a practical partnership between us."

Wayne Ganter, 63, Mark Rawlings, 49, and Wayne Brischke were workers with the Queensland government's building unit QBuild in Cairns.

Mr Rawlings was remembered by friends on social media as an "amazing mate", and a "beautiful, caring, funny, life of the party soul" who lived his life at "110 per cent".

A health and safety officer, Mr Ganter had spent years in the construction industry, News Corp reported. The three were joined on the plane by Stuart Weavell, 36, and pilot Henry Roebig, 62.

The plane smashed into sand dunes about seven kilometres south-east of the nearby airstrip after its third attempt to land, as a tropical low moved across the Cape York Peninsula.

Inspector Mark Henderson described the scene as a "catastrophic" one which could only be accessed via water. Continuing bad weather hampered recovery efforts on Thursday.

"We are challenged with the tides," he said. "High tides are up against the dunes which are preventing access."

"The dunes back onto thickery and onto a swamp. It makes access extremely difficult ... [but] we will work throughout the day and into the weekend to bring closure for the families."

Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Greg Hood said three investigators were on the ground at the crash scene, with two more conducting interviews in Cairns.

"We'll come back and amass that information and a month after the accident we'll release a preliminary report," he said.

"The northern part of Australia experiences the monsoon trough at this time every year. With it comes heavy rain and strong winds. And we're going to be looking carefully at any effect that that may have had on this particular flight."

-with AAP