The aircraft stood overnight in the open at the station airstrip ready for an early morning take off. In a daily inspection made soon after first light, the pilot found that a heavy dew had left beads of moisture covering the aircraft exterior. This was cleaned off the windscreen, which was also misting internally. After a normal warm up and ground test the pilot cleaned the inside of the windscreen and lined up for take off. At this time forward vision was somewhat obscured but the pilot anticipated that outside condensation would clear as the aircraft gathered speed. The take off was commenced but the pilot found that the windscreen did not clear as expected and when full power had been applied and at a speed of about 50 knots, moisture blowing back off the nose of the aircraft caused almost complete loss of forward vision. Finding that the aircraft was moving to the left side of the strip the pilot closed both throttles to abandon the take off and attempted to brake to the right but was too late to prevent the aircraft from swinging left off the strip. The wings were damaged by impact with small trees and the aircraft groundlooped to the right and skidded to a halt. The passengers left by the normal exit and there was no fire.

The aircraft was refuelled before the flight in circumstances such that some fuel transfer between tanks may have taken place. This would have resulted in a slight reduction in the total fuel carried, but allowance for normal fuel reserves would have adequately provided for this contingency. The pilot considered, from past experience of the type of operation and the power settings to be used, that the total endurance of the aircraft would be 5 hours based on the full capacity of the tanks. After some 4 hours 40 minutes flying time the aircraft was returning to Yanrey Station and was at a height of about 800 feet above terrain, when the engine failed. The pilot noted that the fuel pressure was zero and he changed the fuel tank selection from "Left" to "Both", turned on the fuel booster pump and checked that the fuel shut off valve was in the "On" position. The engine did not regain power and the pilot carried out a forced landing in the only cleared area within gliding distance. Towards the end of the landing roll the port mainplane struck a small tree, causing the aircraft to veer to the left as it came to rest. Damage was confined to the outer leading edge of the port mainplane. Subsequent to the landing, both fuel gauges were found to be reading 2 gallons, but there was no available fuel in the tanks.

On the 38th landing since commencing work that day the aircraft made a three point landing with the hopper open and empty and full flap lowered. As the aircraft touched down the port undercarriage main spring leg fractured eight inches from the inboard end at the bend radius. The port wing dropped and after travelling about 300 feet the pilot was unable to maintain control of the aircraft, which commenced turning and sliding to the left and turned through 180 degrees before coming to rest 525 feet after touch down. Examination of the broken undercarriage leg suggests that the quality of the shot peening of the component, a possible small material defect and the presence of light surface corrosion may all have been factors in the initiation of a fatigue crack which led to the eventual failure of the leg.

The aircraft took off from Carbla Station at 0600 for the purpose of mustering sheep about 5 miles west of the strip. At about 0800, with the left fuel tank selected and while turning right at a height of approximately 50 feet above the ground, the engine lost all power. The pilot levelled the aircraft and being unable to restore engine power, lowered full flap and carried out a forced landing straight ahead on lightly timbered level ground. Soon after touch down both main wheels struck tree roots and the aircraft overturned.

The glider was prepared for a winch launch on Runway 18, using 5,000 feet of cable. By the time the glider was ready for launching the wind had backed from 180 degrees to approximately 090 degrees, with a mean speed of 14 knots. The instructor appreciated this and planned to land on Runway 05 for subsequent launches. With both instructor and student aboard, the aircraft exceeded by 82 pounds the maximum permissible take-off weight. The first attempt to launch the glider was abandoned because it drifted across the runway. During the second attempt the glider was still on the ground after rolling about 1000 feet. The instructor used elevator control to lift the glider into the air at 45 m.p.h., 3 - 5 m.p.h. below the normal separation speed. A height of 20 - 30 feet was reached with an airspeed of about 50 m.p.h., but the winch speed was low and the airspeed began to decay. A signal from the pilot calling for an increase in winch speed produced no result and the tow cable was released at about 45 m.p.h. and the nose of the glider lowered, but the speed did not increase and the glider was landed heavily, in a near stalled condition, causing substantial damage to the lower mid section of the fuselage.

The aircraft was engaged on a local sight seeing flight and the gross weight of the aircraft was close to the maximum permitted. The only previous occasion on which the pilot had flown a fully laden aircraft was during a check by his instructor on 21st December, 1969 at which time flying conditions were good. The pilot elected to take-off on the 03 strip into a light north easterly wind. During the take-off the pilot noticed that the wind had become gusty. When the airspeed had reached about 50 knots the aircraft became airborne and shortly afterwards the pilot heard the stall warning horn sound. He lowered the nose to increase speed but soon thereafter he raised the nose of the aircraft to climb, the stall warning horn again sounded and the aircraft veered and began a turn to the right as the right wing dropped. The pilot attempted to continue the turn to land back on the aerodrome but, when he believed that he was losing control of the aircraft, he attempted to level it and reduced power preparatory to letting the aircraft settle in light scrub. The aircraft stalled from a height of about 25 feet with the right wing striking the ground first.

The pilot made an aerial inspection of development of part of the Mission property. On returning to the strip he positioned the aircraft on base leg at 500 feet, but before he turned left to make the final approach to land he noticed new developmental work and turned right toward it to make a closer inspection. As the aircraft turned towards the area and toward rising ground covered with tall trees, a water bottle alongside the pilot's seat fell over and rolled towards the rear of the aircraft spilling the contents. The pilot held the control column with his left hand, turned in his seat and made several attempts to right the bottle before he succeeded. During these attempts the aircraft descended to tree top height over the higher terrain. The pilot looked up at the same time as he felt the aircraft striking the trees. He levelled the aircraft, pulled up and applied power and made a landing without further incident at the Mission airstrip. Inspection disclosed extensive damage to the flaps and leading edge of the wings, that portion of the tailplane was missing and that the starboard elevator was supported by one hinge.

After flying northward and examining surface mineral characteristics from the air the pilot decided to return to Bandya Homestead where, on circling the 300 feet wide earth strip, he judged the wind to be directly across it and gusting between 10-15 knots. He selected full flap and approached to land, Intending to touch down firstly on the left mainwheel and with the left wing lowered. The aircraft touched down on the left main wheel close to the centre of the strip and the nose wheel and right main wheel then quickly made contact. The aircraft ran straight and parallel to the edge of the strip for 350 feet, with the left wheel intermittently lifting, but it then commenced to veer to the left at an increasing rate. Despite the application of right rudder and the late use of brake the aircraft continued to swing and finally ran off the left hand edge of the strip and the nose wheel struck a low ridge of earth. The nosewheel assembly collapsed and the aircraft came to rest on the main wheels and lower engine cowling.

At 1420 hours WST on 8th January, 1970, a Beech A23A aircraft, registered VH-RWA, and a Piper PA24-250 aircraft, registered VH-PAR, collided at a height of approximately 100 feet above ground level, whilst on approach to Runway 24 at Jandakot Airport, Western Australia. Although substantially damaged, VH-RWA continued in flight and landed safely on the runway but VH-PAR became uncontrollable following loss of the complete empennage and crashed some 590 feet short of the runway threshold.

The two aircraft, each following a different approach path to the runway, had gradually converged until both aircraft became established on final approach with VH-RWA above and slightly behind VH-PAR. As the two aircraft approached a height of approximately 100 feet above ground level, the flight path of VH-RWA steepened and this aircraft descended on to VH-PAR. The first contact was made between the underside of the mainplane of the upper aircraft and the top of the vertical fin of -PAR and the propeller of VH-RWA then contacted the rear fuselage of VH-PAR and severed it.

Because of a delay In commencing descent arising from communications difficulties, the pilot decided to lower the undercarriage to Increase his rate of descent. He moved the selection to the "DOWN" position, and then noted that the red undercarriage "UP" light was out. He did not check the green "DOWN" light for main wheel Indication or the nosewheel mechanical indicator. The pilot was not aware that an electrical short circuit prevented the lowering of the undercarriage or that It also denied him the benefit of the undercarriage position lights. After entering the circuit area, the pilot again only checked that the undercarriage selector was In the "DOWN" position and that the red "UP" undercarriage light was out. He approached to land in a wind of 25-30 knots, with a relatively high power setting, which masked the audible warning device. Just prior to touchdown the pilot throttled back and heard the warning horn but too late to Initiate a go around and the aircraft settled to the runway with the undercarriage fully retracted. The aircraft slid for 300 feet before coming to rest.