On 24 October 1989, the student pilot damaged the nose gear of a similar aircraft when he ground looped during a crosswind landing after returning from his first solo flight to the training area. Subsequently he did two dual training flights with different instructors, each flight involving upper air work in the training area and a single landing on return to Bankstown. The student was not given any specific crosswind circuit training, but was authorised for another solo training area flight. During the takeoff run, with an eight knot left crosswind component, the aircraft started to drift to the left of the runway centreline. The pilot applied back pressure to the control column and at this point the aircraft veered further left. As the aircraft ran off the side of the runway, the pilot closed the mixture and throttle and applied brakes. Before coming to a complete stop, the aircraft struck a taxiway sign post damaging the leading edge at the wing root.
