Summary
The pilot intended to visit friends at a cottage close to the bank of the Ovens River. On previous trips he -
had landed at Yarrawonga and had been driven to the cottage. On such visits he had inspected a paddock,
to the west of his friend's cottage, with a view to its use as a landing site. The field was bordered by a
row of SEC power wires, aligned north-south, just outside the eastern boundary and a further set of power
wires, parallel to these, was located 135 feet to the west, inside the paddock. The wires outside the
paddock were prominent by virtue of the number of supporting poles, but those within the paddock were
less obvious as the wires were suspended across the approach path, between two poles 511 feet apart. A
row of trees was located just inside and parallel to the western boundary and the distance between these
trees and the wires in the field was about 2,800 feet.
Arriving over the field after the flight from Moorabbin the pilot circled, sighting both sets of wires. With
the intention of making a close inspection of the field and thus going around to make a landing he made a
full flap approach towards the west. The aircraft cleared the eastern set of wires but the nose wheel leg
struck and broke the top cable of the three wires comprising the second set. The aircraft then fell to the ground, nose first, from a height of about 30 feet and overturned.
