On return to Bankstown from Taree, where the pilot and his passenger had flown earlier in the day, the pilot reported inbound over Parramatta at 1651 hours, 31 minutes before last light. He was cleared for a straight in approach to the 18 strip in hazy conditions with the visibility reported as 5 miles. Five minutes later the aircraft was observed on short final for the left side of the normally 630 feet wide strip, lined up on an area 300 feet wide which was unserviceable due to aerodrome works. The area had been marked unserviceable and a NOTAM had been issued which the pilot had seen. At a height of about 10 feet the aircraft then banked steeply to the right towards the remaining 330 feet wide serviceable area and then made a flat skidding turn to the left as the pilot attempted to line up for the landing. As the turn was almost completed the aircraft stalled and fell heavily to the ground in a nose down attitude. The nosewheel was detached as the aircraft bounced, then slid to rest 80 feet from the point of touch down. The aircraft dug its nose in deeply, but after reaching a nearly vertical attitude, fell back on to its main undercarriage. During the attempts by the pilot to align the aircraft with the landing area, one other aircraft took avoidance action.

When the aircraft arrived over the airstrip the surface wind was at a speed of 10 to 15 knots and varying in direction between south west and north west. The strip is situated on an exposed ridge and aligned north and south. The aircraft made two left circuits on each occasion descending to a low height along the strip to the north. After a third left circuit the aircraft again made an approach into the north and on this occasion landed, touching in the centre and 750 feet beyond the threshold of the 1, 875 feet long strip. The aircraft ran straight for approximately 300 feet and then veered to the left. Before reaching the left side of the strip the aircraft turned to the right and power was heard to increase markedly. The aircraft accelerated across the strip in a north easterly direction until it left the strip and struck an earth bank passing through it some nine inches from the top. It became airborne where the ground dropped away beside the strip and in a semi-stalled condition it flew for about 260 feet maintaining a mean 4 degrees descent down the hillside until it struck a large tree which tore off the left wing and the aircraft finally came to rest some 600 feet from the strip. The pilot suffered from an orthopaedic disability and wore a caliper on his left leg. The aircraft was fitted with a leather strap on the right rudder pedal which enabled the pilot to apply left rudder by pulling with his right foot. His licence restricted him to flying PA. 28 aircraft and he had demonstrated his competence at private licence standard.

The aircraft arrived at "Nelyambo" Station shortly before last light which was at 1809 hours. The weather was fine and clear with nil wind. On his first circuit the pilot thought he saw sheep adjacent to his intended landing path which was an unmarked dirt strip within a large paddock. To make sure that the area was clear the pilot completed a second circuit before commencing an approach to land. On final approach the pilot found that the surface light had faded badly, although the sky remained bright. Under these conditions he had difficulty in distinguishing the strip from its surroundings and the aircraft touched down approximately 100 feet to the left of the strip, striking a mound of earth two feet high. The aircraft ballooned and floated a further 330 feet before again contacting the ground. On the second touch-down the nosewheel collapsed and the aircraft overturned.

At approximately 1127 hours EST on 24th May, 1970, a parachutist was fatally injured on impact with the ground after his parachutes had failed to correctly deploy during a free fall descent near Wilton, New South Wales. The cause of the accident was that following a malfunction of his main parachute, the parachutist did not jettison the main parachute before attempting to deploy his reserve parachute.

The student pilot satisfactorily completed two normal circuits and landings and one short field landing in calm, clear conditions. He made an approach for a second short field landing but as the aircraft neared the aerodrome boundary fence on short final, the stall warning sounded. The pilot states that he applied power, but the port wing dropped sharply and struck a fence post 107 feet to the left of the runway centre line and just short of the threshold. The aircraft pitched forward onto its nosewheel and propeller, tearing off the yoke and nosewheel and then the starboard undercarriage strut and mainwheel as it rolled in that direction. It slewed on the starboard mainplane in an anti-clockwise direction before it came to a stop on a reciprocal heading.

The aircraft was spreading superphosphate in undulating country to the south of the Wyangala Dam. The section being treated was approximately one mile distant from the strip. The pilot had completed three sorties since commencing operations on the morning of the accident. After the fourth load had been spread, the aircraft was heard returning to the strip when the engine noise suddenly ceased and simultaneously a loud thud was heard by two loader drivers at the strip. The aircraft had crashed in the spreading area, striking the ground in a very steep nose down attitude. There were no witnesses to the flight path of the aircraft immediately prior to the impact and examination of the wreckage did not reveal any malfunction which may have caused or contributed to the accident.

The aircraft had been engaged in spreading operations during the morning and after a meal break, the aircraft was re-loaded and refuelled. At about 1500 hours the pilot began spreading superphosphate over selected areas either side of a low ridge In gently undulating country. In fine and calm weather conditions the spreading runs were made in a left hand pattern with a run in a north-easterly direction over one area and continuing in the pattern for a run in a south-westerly direction over the other areas while gradually working upslope towards the central ridge area. After making a run to the north-east the pilot commenced a turn to the left to position the aircraft for a run to the south-west and it was then seen to dive steeply toward the ground while dumping its load. The aircraft struck the ground in a right wing down attitude and came to rest about 105 feet from the Initial Impact point. An examination of the wreckage disclosed that the engine was under power at the time of the impact, and that the flaps were extended, probably at the 40 degree position.

The pilot had flown into the "Trevallyn" agricultural strip and was about to commence operations. After the aircraft was loaded with 12 hundredweight of superphosphate the pilot made a normal turn away from the superphosphate dump and began his take-off in calm conditions. After travelling approximately 100 feet, and at a speed of about 40 knots, the aircraft veered to starboard. The pilot endeavoured to correct the swing by use of rudder and when he found he could not control the aircraft he closed the throttle in order to abandon the takeoff. The aircraft ran for some 150 feet towards the right hand side of the strip before the pilot was able to re-align it with the strip. It then ran for 21 feet along the edge of the strip before the nose gear assembly collapsed and the nose of the aircraft dropped. The propeller struck the ground several times and the aircraft nosed over on to its back and slid for a distance of 15 feet before coming to rest inverted. During the examination of the wreckage it was found that the nose gear lower pivot support assembly had failed. It was established that the failure occurred because the component was weakened by the presence of a large fatigue crack extending across the whole width of the lower face of the box section. The fatigue failure originated on either side of a pre-existing crack, the location and general appearance of which were consistent with restraint cracking which could have occurred during welding of the pivot housing to the box section at manufacture.

JA-8031 was engaged on a regular public transport flight from Sydney, Australia, to Manila, Philippines, thence to Tokyo, Japan, and was designated Japan Airlines Flight 772.

The aircraft had arrived at Sydney from Manila at 2200 hours Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 21st February and, after maintenance and routine servicing, engines were ground tested in an area set aside for this purpose. This work was completed at 0945 hours on 22nd February and the aircraft then remained unattended until 1120 hours on 22nd February when it was moved to the apron for pre-departure servicing and loading. After taxing at 1240 hours, the aircraft commenced to take off on Runway 34 at 1251 hours and, about one minute later, when the aircraft was at about 200 feet altitude, a person was seen to fall from the left main landing gear bay.

The aircraft carried as passengers, eight parachutists, who were to drop into the sea near Queenscliff in connection with a surf carnival. The dropping run was to be on a south easterly heading with the aircraft crossing the coastline at the southern end of the Queenscliff Beach at a height of 10,000 feet. On reaching the dropping zone the aircraft began to climb from 2,000 feet and had reached a height of 9,700 feet as the dropping run commenced. The run was slightly to the left of that intended however, and the aircraft crossed the coast further north along the beach. The jumpmaster, who was taking part in the jump, requested the pilot to make a second run. At that moment, the aircraft engine began surging and vibrating and some light smoke was seen in the cockpit. The pilot instructed the parachutists to leave the aircraft and all eight jumped in succession and were recovered safely from the water. The windscreen became covered in oil and the pilot, who was also wearing a parachute, decided that a landing would be difficult, so he abandoned the aircraft at a height of 5,000 feet. He was rescued from the sea a short time later. The aircraft crashed at high speed into the sea and apart from a fuel tank and portion of a wing, was not recovered.