The pilot was mustering cattle when the helicopter yawed to the right. Believing there was a tail rotor failure, the pilot turned to the left towards a clearing to land as soon as possible. The landing was heavy, and the main rotors severed the tail boom. Investigation revealed that the initial yaw to the right had occurred when the main rotor blades struck trees. The pilot did not realise during the short time interval between the decision to land and the landing itself, that if there had been a tail rotor failure he would not have been able to maintain normal control when positioning for landing.

Sport parachute jumping was taking place over a long weekend. The aircraft being used had been prepared for the task by the removal of the right door, most of the seats and the control wheel on the right side. However, the tube to which the control wheel was attached remained protruding from the instrument panel. The parachute instructor was positioned near the right door opening, with his back to the instrument panel. As the first of the students prepared to take up his position in the door opening, the instructor moved back and pressed against the control wheel tube. This resulted in a nose-down pitch change, which the pilot corrected by pulling back on his control column. Shortly afterwards, the instructor leant back more forcefully and the aircraft adopted a steep nose-down attitude. The pilot shouted that he was unable to control the aircraft, and the instructor then grasped the door frame and exited the aircraft. At this point the aircraft had descended from 2500 feet above the ground to about 1000 feet. The instructor's parachute commenced opening at a height of about 400 feet, but it did not fully deploy before he struck the ground. The pilot regained control of the aircraft and carried out an uneventful landing with the students and the observer still on board. A subsequent inspection revealed that the instructor's equipment was in a serviceable condition at the time of the accident, and there was no evidence that he had suffered any sudden illness or incapacity which might have affected his judgment. A series of tests were undertaken which showed that it was possible that portion of the instructor's clothing may have snagged on the engine controls. However, the reason he subsequently jumped from the aircraft could not be positively determined, nor could the reason he failed to activate his parachute until a low height above the ground.

Circumstances:

The aircraft reportedly crashed on take-off tearing off the nose gear leg.

Circumstances:

Wind conditions at the destination aerodrome were forecast to be 150 degrees at 12 knots but were actually 170 degrees at 25 to 35 knots. On late final approach to Runway 14, the pilot encountered strong wind shear which caused the indicated airspeed to reduce rapidly from 95 to 75 knots. The aircraft sank and landed heavily just short of the threshold. This accident was not the subject of an on-scene investigation.

Circumstances:

The pilot had operated from the strip on previous occasions and had flown out of the field twice prior to the accident flight. He set 10 degrees of flap for a "short field" take-off into a 15-20 knot Easterly wind. Soon after the start of the take-off roll when the aircraft speed was about 35 knots a sudden change of wind direction to the North was experienced. Whilst trying to maintain runway heading, he over-corrected with right brake and rudder and the aircraft veered off the right side of the runway. The pilot promptly shut down the engine, but the aircraft entered a dry creek bed, and the nose gear was broken off. The aircraft came to rest 50 feet from a fence at the end of the runway.

Circumstances:

The pilot had been carrying out a low-level survey of cotton fields en-route to Moree. At the completion of the survey as the aircraft was climbing through a height of 700 feet the engine suffered a sudden and complete loss of power. All attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful and the pilot elected to force land the aircraft on a local strip. During the approach he realised the aircraft would not be able to clear trees on the approach path. He then turned the aircraft through about 60 degrees to the left and landed in a clearing. During the landing roll the left mainwheel struck a log resulting in substantial damage to the aircraft. The pilot advised that prior to the flight he had visually assessed the fuel contents as sufficient. Due to the position of the aircraft after the accident it was not possible to determine the amount of fuel remaining. A subsequent examination of the aircraft was unable to determine the reason for the loss of power.

Circumstances:

The pilot was on an intermediate stop on return to Alice Springs from Yulara. At about 90 knots on the take-off roll just before rotation, the pilot heard a metallic thump and the nose of the aircraft dropped onto the ground. The aircraft slid to a stop as the pilot completed his shutdown checks. An inspection of the strip by the pilot after the accident revealed that the nosewheel had apparently struck a partially submerged rock uncovered by recent raking of the strip surface. The nosewheel tyre was reportedly blown and the nose gear link apparently failed in overload allowing the nose leg to collapse.

Circumstances:

The pilot was involved in the management of the company. He had intended that the proposed flight be conducted in a Beech 58 by a company pilot. However, due to circumstances, he found he had to do the trip himself. Due to maintenance problems, VH-CFS was substituted for the Beech 58. This resulted in the flight departing for Menindee some two hours behind schedule. On the return flight, after some inflight calculations, the pilot realised that he had based his fuel calculations on the Beech 58 endurance and not on the Beech 55. He estimated that he would be able to reach Condobolin with only about twenty minutes fuel remaining. He advised that this was the only aerodrome within range with fuel available. Near top of descent, at 10,000 feet, the left main tank ran dry. The pilot then ran both engines from the right main tank. About six minutes later while passing 7000 feet on descent, the right main tank ran dry. The pilot feathered both propellers, with the intention of making an emergency landing into a nearby field. When he selected the landing gear down, the motor only ran for a short time, leaving him insufficient time to complete the extension manually. The aircraft struck three sheep just prior to touchdown, then slid to a halt in the field.

Circumstances:

The aircraft had reportedly been shut down for about an hour. After refuelling, the aircraft was started and the pilot noticed smoke coming from under the seat. He shut down the engine and by this time flames were seen under and around the back of the engine. The pilot grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran to another aircraft for assistance. Attempts to put out the fire were reportedly thwarted by the heat of the fire and as there was a significant quantity of ammunition on board, everyone hid behind a tree until the fire burnt out.

Circumstances:

The pilot had commenced operations with full fuel tanks and was expecting a safe endurance of four hours. After three and a half hours the pilot was flying the aircraft in a right hand turn at 500 feet above ground level when the engine lost power, regained it momentarily and then stopped completely. The pilot rolled the wings level and commenced a forced landing approach. The aircraft touched down on a rocky ridge and collided with a number of trees. Twelve litres of fuel were drained from the right hand wing tank. The left hand wing tank was empty. The aircraft's capacity is 96 litres of which six litres are unusable. At normal fuel usage rates, a safe endurance of 240 minutes can be expected. As the pilot was operating at medium power settings, with flap selected much of the time and the mixture selected to rich, the endurance achieved was probably correct. The most probable explanation for the engine malfunction is that the fuel feed lines were unported from the limited amount of fuel remaining in the right wing during the right hand turn. There was insufficient time for the engine to restart, once the wings were levelled, before the pilot had to land the aircraft.