At 1109 hours CST on 12 March, 1972, a parachutist was fatally injured by impact with the ground following a free fall descent at Lower Light, South Australia. The weather was not a factor in the accident and the dropping zone was satisfactory. When the main parachute was inspected after the accident the pins were found to have been extracted from the cones and the folded parachute, still contained in the sleeve, was beneath the pack in a manner consistent with the pack having opened at impact. The ripcord handle was partly withdrawn, also in a manner consistent with this having occurred at impact.

At approximately 0745 hours Central Standard Time on 20 January 1972, there was an in-flight fire in a Beech 65-80 Queenair aircraft, registered VH-CMI, which resulted in the separation of the starboard engine and the starboard outer wing. The aircraft subsequently struck the ground some seven miles south-west of Alice Springs Airport in the Northern Territory. At the time of the accident, the aircraft was engaged in operating a charter flight for the purpose of carrying passengers, mail and freight from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock. The aircraft was destroyed by fire and impact forces and the pilot and the six passengers were killed.

The pilot had held a private pilot licence which expired in April 1972, and during June of that year he underwent and passed a renewal medical examination conducted by an approved aviation medical examiner. He did not, however, disclose that he was being treated by another medical practitioner for heart disease of a type which, in fact, precluded him from meeting the medical standards applicable to the holder of a pilot licence. His aircraft was undergoing repairs at that time and, because he had not acquired the recent flying experience required for the renewal of his private licence a student pilot licence was then issued to him. The holder of a student pilot licence is not authorised to pilot an aircraft unless he is accompanied by or is under the supervision of a rated flight instructor or an approved pilot. About a month prior to the accident the aircraft was returned to the pilot at the completion of repair work and he subsequently flew it on several occasions totaling about four hours. On the morning of the accident the weather was fine and the pilot declared his intention to make a flight. Accompanied by his two grandsons he proceeded to the field where his aircraft was hangared and supervised the actions of the two boys who pushed the aircraft from the hangar and topped up one of its two fuel tanks. He completed a pre-flight inspection during which he pulled the propeller through by hand several times and then boarded the aircraft alone. He started the engine and taxied the aircraft a short distance to the end of the landing strip where the engine was run for a short period. An apparently normal take-off was then made into a light wind and the aircraft climbed away to an estimated height of 100 feet. The aircraft banked into what appeared to be the commencement of a normal left hand turn but, as the turn continued, the wing progressively lowered further and the nose of the aircraft went down. The aircraft descended and struck the ground in a steep nose down attitude.

At a height of about 250 feet, and at a position approximately one mile from the landing field, the aircraft suddenly rolled to the left and dived into the lake, virtually disintegrating on impact. No parts of the port outer flap plywood skin panel could be identified among the severely damaged wreckage. This panel was located, virtually intact, some four weeks after the accident on the shore of the lake l£ miles north east of the accident site. Detailed examination of the total flap structure revealed evidence consistent with the panel having separated from the structure as a result of air loads in flight. It is normal practice in this type of aircraft for flap to be extended on final approach for landing but it was not possible to establish from the evidence available whether or not any flap was in the extended position at the time of impact.

The pilot first obtained a private pilot licence in April, 1966 but, because he had not completed a course of navigation flying training, his licence was valid only for flight within five miles of any departure aerodrome or within the confines of a flying training area. He was not qualified to fly in other than visual meteorological conditions. The aircraft was normally based in a hangar on the pilot's property near Bylands and fuelled from drums stored in the hangar. An examination of the wreckage indicated that the aircraft had struck the ground in a steep spiral dive. No evidence was found of any defect which may have contributed to the accident. There was only a small amount of fuel remaining in the tanks but fuel may have drained away through broken lines after the accident.

The cause of this accident has not been established but it is apparent that the pilot attempted the flight in weather conditions which were unsuitable and this may have led to the loss of control.

On 8 September, 1972, a De Havilland DH82A aircraft registered VH-AQL, disappeared whilst on a private travel flight from Cambridge, Tasmania, to Flinders Island, in Bass Strait. No trace has been found of the aircraft or its occupants. An intense air, sea and land search was conducted over a period of twenty days and the search was continued on a reduced scale for a further twenty-nine days. During this whole period a total of 374 hours 36 minutes were flown by search aircraft and 105 sighting or hearing reports were evaluated. The weight of the evidence indicates that the aircraft proceeded in a northerly direction along the east coast of Tasmania to Eddystone Point where it headed seaward in the direction of Cape Barren and Flinders Islands. The last reported sighting, by a witness at Eddystone Point, indicates that the aircraft was then flying at an altitude of about 2,000 feet and appeared to be operating normally.

During lift off, the stall warning sounded and there is evidence that it continued to sound as the aircraft climbed away. At a height of about 50 feet the left wing dropped and the aircraft descended steeply in a turn to the left, striking the scrub covered ground about 250 feet north east of the eastern end of the airstrip. The operations manual specifies 10 degrees of flap for minimum ground roll on take off and up to 10 degrees of flap for take off in cross wind conditions but, for take off on this occasion, the pilot selected 20 degrees of flap. The take off was made into the east, with a strong gusting wind blowing approximately from the north east, giving a crosswind component at or near the 15 knot maximum permitted for the aircraft type.

The pilot intended to visit friends at a cottage close to the bank of the Ovens River. On previous trips he - had landed at Yarrawonga and had been driven to the cottage. On such visits he had inspected a paddock, to the west of his friend's cottage, with a view to its use as a landing site. The field was bordered by a row of SEC power wires, aligned north-south, just outside the eastern boundary and a further set of power wires, parallel to these, was located 135 feet to the west, inside the paddock. The wires outside the paddock were prominent by virtue of the number of supporting poles, but those within the paddock were less obvious as the wires were suspended across the approach path, between two poles 511 feet apart. A row of trees was located just inside and parallel to the western boundary and the distance between these trees and the wires in the field was about 2,800 feet. Arriving over the field after the flight from Moorabbin the pilot circled, sighting both sets of wires. With the intention of making a close inspection of the field and thus going around to make a landing he made a full flap approach towards the west. The aircraft cleared the eastern set of wires but the nose wheel leg struck and broke the top cable of the three wires comprising the second set. The aircraft then fell to the ground, nose first, from a height of about 30 feet and overturned.

The pilot under instruction was undergoing training with a view to qualifying for a commercial pilot licence. Immediately prior to the flight which resulted in the accident the aircraft was refuelled, the appropriate preflight inspections were completed, and the instructor made an entry in the daily flying record to the effect that the forthcoming flight was for the purpose of revision of forced landing practice. The aircraft was seen to depart from Lismore Aerodrome with the instructor in the right hand seat and the other pilot in the left hand dual control seat. This is the normal seating for an instructional flight in this type of aircraft fitted with dual controls. Approximately 15 minutes after departure the aircraft was seen descending in a south-westerly direction in an area which is frequently used by the Northern Rivers Aero Club for forced landing practice. There was no apparent engine noise as the aircraft then turned onto a southerly heading. The descent continued until the aircraft was only a few feet above the ground at a point where it crossed a road and it then pulled up sharply to a height estimated as not above 75 feet. It leveled out and, with no change in direction, proceeded for a distance of approximately 3,500 feet and then commenced a steeply banked turn to the right. After completing about 90 degrees of this turn the aircraft dropped rapidly and struck the ground heavily in a left wing low and nose down attitude. An intense fire broke out immediately. During the investigation a detailed examination of the wreckage was conducted but this revealed no evidence of any pre-existing defect or malfunction of the aircraft or the engine.

At about 0930 hours EST on 15 October, 1972, a parachutist was drowned in a dam following a static line parachute descent. The student parachutist, was making her third jump, her first jump on this day. She was under the supervision of the Airborne Parachuting Centre which had conducted her training during the preceding four weeks. Her initial training and the two previous jumps had been carried out under the supervision by an instructor, who also conducted the pre-jump training before this jump. The training included instruction in the techniques of aircraft exits, canopy control, landings and emergency procedures. When it. became apparent that the student was about to land some distance from the Dropping Zone another parachutist proceeded to the landing area to provide assistance and found that she had descended into a small dam of irregular shape approximately 600 square yards in area and some 6 feet deep at the point of entry. The dam was situated some 1,330 yards west-south-west of the Dropping Zone marker. The parachute harness was found to be still firmly attached to the parachutist and she was tangled in the rigging lines.