Circumstances:

The pilot reported that the aircraft was taking off downhill from a one-way agricultural strip with a load of superphosphate. The strip consisted of 300 metres of gravel, followed by about 100 metres of pasture. A gully crossed beyond the strip end. The pilot reported that the wind in the loading area at the top of the strip was a very light quartering tailwind from the left. The aircraft became airborne at the end of the gravel strip, with the engine apparently delivering full power. Almost immediately the aircraft encountered sink, with the mainwheels touching momentarily on the pasture. At that stage, the pilot commenced dumping the load, but the aircraft failed to respond. Full dump was initiated. However, the aircraft stalled, dropping the right wing before striking the ground on the far side of the gully with the wing, which broke off. The aircraft then skidded through a fence in a semi-inverted attitude for about 70 metres before coming to rest upright. The pilot advised that the wind funnelling down the valley was gusting 12 to 15 knots from the left, considerably different to that in the loading area.

Circumstances:

The aircraft was being landed on an agricultural strip prior to commencing spreading operations. The pilot reported the landing was normal until the aircraft developed a swing to the left. Application of the right brake had no effect due to a very slippery, short wet grass surface. The aircraft collided with a fence at low speed, displacing the left landing gear, and damaging the left wing. The wind was a left, quartering tailwind at five knots.

After take-off the pilot noticed that the airspeed indicator was fluctuating between 40 and 60 knots irrespective of the aircraft's actual speed. He elected to land again but, with his attention directed towards the faulty airspeed indicator, he forgot to lower the landing gear prior to touchdown. Although no fault was subsequently found with the airspeed indicating system, it was probable that a partial blockage of the pitot tube had occurred. The pilot was relatively inexperienced on the aircraft type and had not previously flown this particular aircraft .

The particular spraying run crossed a group of trees at the top of a rise. As the pilot pulled up to overfly the trees the right wing of the aircraft struck some branches. The pilot noticed fluid escaping from the tears in the wing and elected to carry out an immediate landing on the downslope beyond the trees. Shortly after touchdown the aircraft yawed, the left wheel dug in and the aircraft rolled over twice before coming to rest inverted.

Circumstances:

The pilot reported that just prior to touchdown he experienced a huge crosswind gust that blew him to the side of the strip. He attempted to regain directional control with rudder as the aircraft was then on the ground, but he could not prevent the aircraft running into a sand windrow at the edge of the strip. On striking the windrow and then bushes, the left main gear leg was torn off followed by the other gear legs. The engine was also reportedly detached from the nose of the aircraft.

During a practice circuit, the pilot noticed an intermittent vibration through the aircraft. He elected to discontinue the exercise and carried out a normal landing. As the mixture control was placed in the idle/cut-off position, one of the main rotor blades struck the tail boom. The vibration noticed by the pilot probably resulted from spark plug fouling. Strong, gusty wind conditions prevalent at the time of the accident, were ideal for exaggerated main rotor flapping known as "blade sailing".

Circumstances:

The pilot had completed a superphosphate spreading operation, from an agricultural strip, and was about to take off on a ferry flight to Albury. As the aircraft commenced the take off the pilot was distracted when a drink bottle fell from his seat and began to roll between the rudder pedals. As he retrieved the bottle, the aircraft became airborne and drifted to the left. When the pilot looked up, a loader vehicle was immediately ahead, on the left side of the strip, and a collision was unavoidable. The aircraft sustained serious damage when it hit a structure on the vehicle. About 18 centimetres of one propeller blade was removed, the nose gear leg was displaced rearwards and the right mainwheel separated from the aircraft. The pilot contacted the loader driver to ascertain the extent of the damage. He then decided to continue the flight to Albury where emergency services were alerted for his arrival. The aircraft was landed on the grass strip beside the sealed runway but overturned as it neared the end of the landing roll.

Circumstances:

The pilot reported he had completed five touch-and-go landings, and two glide approach landings on runway 16 during a session of circuits, the latter requiring very close approaches. The wind was from the south-west at 10-15 knots, resulting in a gusting, right crosswind. The accident occurred while the pilot was carrying out a third glide approach. He advised that he would normally extend the undercarriage on downwind leg as the first of the vital pre landing actions, and on final approach do a last "three greens" verification check. On this occasion he did neither check, being busy with the wind gusts and the very brief base and final legs. The aircraft touched down smoothly and slid for about 70 metres, coming to rest on the centreline. It was then that the pilot heard the undercarriage warning horn and saw the undercarriage control in the gear up position. He turned off all switches and evacuated the aircraft. The pilot said that he had been suffering the after-effects of a head cold and this, together with over an hour of crosswind circuits, may have reduced his sharpness to the stage where vital actions were forgotten.

While cruising at 6000 feet on a night VMC flight the pilot encountered a heavy rain shower. During an attempted 180 degree turn the aircraft entered a spiral dive and in the recovery from this dive the aircraft was evidently overstressed. After diverting to Parkes the pilot flew to his planned destination on the following day. The damage sustained by the wings was not detected until a subsequent daily inspection.

Circumstances:

The aircraft was on a ferry flight prior to the commencement of spraying operations. The pilot reported that the take-off proceeded normally until immediately after lift off. At that point, the engine lost power and the aircraft was landed about 50 metres beyond the end of the runway. The aircraft passed through a wire fence and then collided with an earth bank which separated the tailplane from the fuselage with the remainder of the aircraft wreckage coming to a halt about 50 metres beyond the bank. Examination of the engine revealed low compression in two cylinders. One as a result of a cracked cylinder head the other from the alignment of the piston ring gaps. Neither defect was assessed as capable of causing a substantial loss of power during take-off. The reason for the substantial power loss was not determined.