Flight paths for aircraft taking off or landing at Canberra are clear of the concentrated development close to those at Essendon Airport, Canberra Aero Club director Tony Smart said.

"If you look at the geography, it's quite different," he said.

"It's not like Essendon, where it's really close-packed and built up.

"There's lots of flat, green field if you were to run into trouble ... There's heaps of opportunity to put down in a fairly organised fashion."

While Brindabella Business Park neighboured Canberra Airport, it sat off the middle of the main north-south runway, out of the paths of aircraft, Mr Smart said.

"You're not really airborne if that were ever to be a problem."

Head of the University of NSW aviation school Jason Middleton said Canberra's runways were some distance from any development.

"The runway directions are such that the buildings don't provide an obstacle to aircraft landing and taking off.

"Really, the development is not very dense."

A Canberra Airport spokeswoman said it complied with the international standard for setback of buildings from airports.

Five people died on Tuesday morning when a light plane smashed into the DFO Shopping Centre in Essendon and burst into flames.

The plane took off and travelled 30 metres before veering left and crashing into the centre.

Police suspect 'catastrophic engine failure' occurred, and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the cause of the crash.