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.

Circumstances:

The flight was the pilot's first in the area. The flight planned time interval, using the available weather forecasts, was 276 minutes. Fuel endurance, on DEPARTURE was 345 minutes. During the flight, the pilot noted that the forecast wind directions and speeds were different than forecast.

Circumstances:

During a local flight to the north-west of Coffs Harbour the left engine began to vibrate and run roughly. The pilot shut the engine down but found the aircraft could not maintain height in conditions of moderate turbulence. An emergency landing was made onto a disused agricultural strip, during which the aircraft overran the landing surface and collided with a stump, collapsing the nose landing gear.

Circumstances:

The pilot said that during a landing approach to runway 33 at Cowra the engine suffered a complete loss of power. The aircraft was landed in a paddock near the aerodrome. During the landing roll the aircraft struck a fence, resulting in a steel stake penetrating the left side of the fuselage and the adjacent rear passenger seat. From information supplied by the pilot, the loss of power was probably due to fuel exhaustion as a result of his miscalculation of the overall fuel consumption rate of the aircraft. This occurrence was not the subject of an on-site investigation. The report is based on information supplied by the pilot.

At about 400 feet agl on climb, the helicopter suffered a partial loss of engine power. The pilot decided to use the available power to carry out a landing on the airfield. At about 50 feet agl, the engine stopped and the aircraft was subsequently landed heavily, collapsing the skids. The engine had seized. An inspection revealed that the condition of the engine was consistent with that of having been operated without oil. There was no evidence of inflight oil loss or of any component failure which might have caused the loss. When the engine began to lose power the helicopter was climbing at an airspeed of 60 knots. When the engine stopped the helicopter no longer had sufficient performance to allow the successful completion of an auto-rotational approach.