Circumstances:

The pilot had completed the first leg of a 300 kilometre flight and was positioning the glider so that he could take a photograph of some silos. During the process the main landing gear was released. The pilot leant forward to pull on the landing gear retract column and was afflicted by a painful spasm of the stomach muscle. The pain persisted so the pilot decided to make an outlanding in a large wheat field. The pilot saw a power line near the western end of the paddock but decided to land in the paddock since it was otherwise suitable and he had sufficient height to fly over the wire. However, the glider encountered sink on final approach and collided with the wire. The wire struck the canopy of the glider and arrested its forward motion before the wire broke. The glider then fell to the ground.

Significant Factors:

The following factors were considered relevant to the development of the accident:

1. The pilot suffered an inflight incapacitation which necessitated an outlanding.
2. The glider encountered an increased sink rate on final approach.
3. The pilot was unable to avoid a collision with a power line.

During cruise the right engine began to surge and vibrate. Normal actions to restore engine performance were unsuccessful and the engine was shut down. About four minutes later the left engine lost power in a similar manner to the right. The pilot carried out a forced landing but the nosewheel was torn off when it struck a ditch. A subsequent examination revealed no evidence of pre-impact defects or malfunctions of either engine which might have contributed to the reported power losses. Atmospheric conditions at the time were conducive to the formation of carburettor icing. The aircraft was not equipped with a carburettor air temperature gauge, and the pilot had not applied carburettor heat until the initial loss of power from the right engine. At the same time, he had moved the mixture levers to the full rich position, which would have reduced the exhaust gas temperature. This in turn would reduce the amount of heat available to disperse any ice accumulation. It was considered probable that if an appreciable amount of ice had formed, there was insufficient time available for it to be dispersed by the heat applied, before the pilot was committed to a forced landing.

After the pilot selected the gear down, he observed that the single gear position indicator light indicated that the gear was down. During the landing roll, as the aircraft slowed down, the left wingtip and left propeller contacted the strip. Subsequent inspection of the aircraft revealed that the left main gear was in the up position. The left gear uplock bracket-block had recently been repaired but the forward hole had been drilled slightly off centre. This caused the bracket to tilt rearward and the block to slip off the uplock roller face and jam against the roller retaining bolt. When the gear was selected down the gear motor drove against the jammed uplock and bent the left retract rod. This allowed the motor to complete its extension cycle and indicate a gear down condition because the indicator switches are located on the activator housing and not at each gear leg.

Circumstances:

The pilot reported that at approximately 150 feet after take-off, the engine power began to reduce and the engine out warning sounded. An autorotational landing was carried out, during which the main rotor blades collided with the tail boom. Inspection of the engine and its components, indicated that a partially blocked fuel nozzle had caused uneven combustion which in turn, resulted in a loss of power output. The nozzle, which had been tested serviceable and installed in the engine one hour prior to the accident, was later found to contain a piece of foreign matter which caused an uneven spray pattern at high operating fuel pressures.

The helicopter was being flown along a watercourse at a height of about 10 ft and an airspeed of about 85 kt. As the pilot rotated the aircraft to commence a climb the rear of the landing skids struck the water. The helicopter pitched forward, overturned and sank. The water surface at the time of the accident was smooth and glassy. The judgement of height above such a surface is difficult. The inexperienced pilot was apparently aware of these difficulties, however, on this occasion misjudged the height of the helicopter above the water as he selected the climb attitude.

Circumstances:

The pilot reported that after touching down on the third landing for the flight, the aircraft began to turn to the right. Corrective action was taken, however, the aircraft yawed sharply to the left and skidded off the left hand side of the runway. The wind was light and variable at the time of the accident.

The pilot was to conduct seeding operations on a friend's property. On arrival at the strip, he removed the front right seat from the cabin, leaving only the pilot's seat in the aircraft (the rear passenger seats were not in the aircraft). The pilot then fitted shaped metal sheets to the top and bottom of the baggage door. The door was positioned at the rear of the cabin on the left side of the aircraft. The metal sheets enabled the door to be held open (at an angle of about 17`) during flight, to allow seed to be dispensed through the opening.

The seed mixture was contained in bags, each weighing about 45 kg. Four bags were loaded into the aircraft cabin. One bag was placed adjacent to the baggage door. The person dispensing the seed then sat on the cabin floor leaning against the cabin rear bulkhead. Two further bags were placed on the floor in the area normally occupied by the rear passenger seats and another bag on the floor in the position of the front right seat. About 10 min after the aircraft departed for the seeding area, the property owner became concerned that he had not seen or heard the aircraft and commenced a search. He located the wreckage some 25 min later.

From the evidence available at the site, the aircraft impacted the ground at low speed and with a high rate of descent. Some flap (probably one notch on the selection handle) was selected at impact but whether this was a normal configuration for seeding operations could not be determined. The impact was not survivable, the forces being sufficient to cause the pilot's inboard lap safety belt attachment bracket to fail in overload.

Examination of the seed bags indicated that one bag was probably empty of seed at impact. Nothing to indicate a pre-existing defect in the aircraft controls or engine was found. It appears that the pilot had conducted one seeding run and was conducting a right procedure turn to position for the next run when the accident occurred. It was established that the pilot had received no formal training in low flying or aerial agriculture techniques. The exact sequence of events leading to this accident could not be determined.

At a height of about 350 feet after a normal takeoff, the engine commenced to run roughly. The pilot considered that the problem may have been caused by part of a propeller blade becoming detached. Power was reduced and the pilot commenced to turn back towards the aerodrome. A substantial amount of height was lost during this turn, and the aircraft was seen to make a number of lateral oscillations. It then struck the ground in a tail low, wings level attitude at relatively low forward speed. No pre-impact mechanical defect was found with the engine or propeller. However, initial examination of the wreckage revealed that the fuel selector valve was very close to the "Off" position. Tests conducted on a similar aircraft indicated that with the fuel selector positioned as found, sufficient fuel was available to allow engine operation at low to moderate power settings. It was considered likely that on this occasion the fuel flow required for take-off exceeded the amount available through the selector valve. This in turn led to an excessively lean mixture, and the engine lost power. The aircraft had stalled during the attempted turn back towards the aerodrome, and the pilot had insufficient height in which to effect a recovery.

During a night flight engine failure appeared imminent and pilot elected to land in a clear area near a farmhouse. Weather conditions were reported to be fine with bright moonlight. After circling the area twice at low level the aircraft approached to land with the gear extended and landing lights on. The aircraft subsequently struck the ground in a steep nose down, right wing down attitude. As there was no runway lights installed at the departure aerodrome, the pilot had been anxious to begin the flight before last light. After he had submitted a flight plan he completed a preflight inspection of the aircraft but omitted to accurately determine that the fuel available was sufficient for the flight. Shortly after commencing descent to the destination airport the engine ran roughly and the pilot elected to land on a cleared area adjacent to homestead lights he could see below. The aircraft stalled on late final probably due to the pilot misjudging the landing flare.

The pilot had previously discussed the strip with the station owner but had not ascertained its length. On overflying, the pilot assessed its length as 600 metres, and after checking the P chart he calculated that 500 metres was needed for a landing. The pilot stated that he crossed the threshold at 65-70 knots with full flap selected. Ground marks indicated that the aircraft touched down 195 metres past the threshold. It then bounced twice before overrunning the strip, striking an earth mound and running through a depression. The grass strip was measured as 408 metres long and was slippery from rain which had fallen the previous day.