Two members of a "black flight" drug syndicate that smuggled $17 million worth of methamphetamine into Australia from Papua New Guinea have been jailed.

The smugglers masterminded a scheme to fly a twin-engine Beechcraft aircraft to the historic gold mining town of Bulolo in the mountain ranges of Papua New Guinea's Morobe Province.

Two men piloted the unauthorised flight from regional town of Monto, northwest of Brisbane, to Bulolo.

After landing safely at the PNG airstrip, they loaded five duffel bags packed with methamphetamine.

Inside were 87 plastic bags containing a white crystalline substance weighing 71.5kg.

Testing later revealed the pure weight of the drugs was 56.98kg.

The men are alleged to have collected the meth and concealed it in the plane's nose cone before embarking

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