The pilot had completed three flights, consisting of a boundary survey flight followed by two spreading sorties. The weather was clear and calm and the temperature approximately 40°F. The third spreading sortie was to be flown over a paddock of irregular shape, about 1 mile long and 300 feet wide, oriented north-west south-east. The paddock was bisected by a line of trees beyond which the ground sloped gently upwards towards a low hill located beyond the south eastern boundary. A witness standing near the north western boundary of the paddock watched the aircraft as it began spreading in a south easterly direction and then lost sight of it. Approximately one half minute later the sound of the engine ceased abruptly followed closely by a heavy impact. The aircraft was found to have struck the ground while in a nose down attitude of some 22 degrees with the right wing slightly low and at a location consistent with the aircraft having completed its spreading run and turning to commence its next run. The impact marks indicate that the aircraft was skidding to the right. The hopper doors were in the dump position and portion of the load had been jettisoned immediately before impact. The aircraft came to rest facing in a south westerly direction some 53 feet from the initial impact point. There was no fire.

The pilot completed the refuelling of the aircraft and pushed it back to a position approximately half way across the 100 feet wide apron. He applied the parking brake, carried out a pre-flight check and commenced the starting up procedure. He made two unsuccessful attempts to start the engine and then adopted the flooded start technique by setting the throttle to 3/4 open and the mixture control to "Idle Cut Off". When the engine fired on this attempt the pilot moved the mixture control to "Rich" but then found that he was unable to close the throttle, which had apparently jammed. The aircraft moved forward under high power, overcoming the parking brake, which was weak. Before the pilot was able to move his feet from their position on the floor and place them on the brake pedals, or take any of the other courses of action which were indicated, the aircraft had travelled forward some 60 feet to a position at which it struck a heavy wooden post and a steel stake on the fence line of the apron. Examination of the throttle control assembly did not disclose any defect which would have accounted for the inability of the pilot to control the engine power output, however, misuse of the throttle locking button could have led to a situation in which the throttle control jammed.

The crew of the aircraft comprised an Instructor, who was employed by the operator, acting as pilot-in-command in the right front seat and a private pilot, who was undergoing instruction on the aircraft for type endorsement, in the left front or normal pilot seat. The flight was also for the purpose of the private pilot visiting his father's property near Ardlethan on personal business. The third occupant was a student pilot who had not yet begun his flying training and had been invited on the flight as an observer. After arriving over its destination, where a strong south westerly wind of up to 20 knots was evident, the aircraft circled the airstrip and then flew across the homestead in a north easterly direction at a low height. As it approached a low ridge which crossed the flight path at right angles the aircraft began to climb at a progressively steepening angle until at a height of approximately 250 feet above the ground and at an obviously diminished airspeed it began a steeply banked turn to the left. At this point the aircraft nosed down and, at an angle of descent of about 50 degrees, dived into the trees near the base of the western face of the ridge.

On return to Bankstown from Taree, where the pilot and his passenger had flown earlier in the day, the pilot reported inbound over Parramatta at 1651 hours, 31 minutes before last light. He was cleared for a straight in approach to the 18 strip in hazy conditions with the visibility reported as 5 miles. Five minutes later the aircraft was observed on short final for the left side of the normally 630 feet wide strip, lined up on an area 300 feet wide which was unserviceable due to aerodrome works. The area had been marked unserviceable and a NOTAM had been issued which the pilot had seen. At a height of about 10 feet the aircraft then banked steeply to the right towards the remaining 330 feet wide serviceable area and then made a flat skidding turn to the left as the pilot attempted to line up for the landing. As the turn was almost completed the aircraft stalled and fell heavily to the ground in a nose down attitude. The nosewheel was detached as the aircraft bounced, then slid to rest 80 feet from the point of touch down. The aircraft dug its nose in deeply, but after reaching a nearly vertical attitude, fell back on to its main undercarriage. During the attempts by the pilot to align the aircraft with the landing area, one other aircraft took avoidance action.

When the aircraft arrived over the airstrip the surface wind was at a speed of 10 to 15 knots and varying in direction between south west and north west. The strip is situated on an exposed ridge and aligned north and south. The aircraft made two left circuits on each occasion descending to a low height along the strip to the north. After a third left circuit the aircraft again made an approach into the north and on this occasion landed, touching in the centre and 750 feet beyond the threshold of the 1, 875 feet long strip. The aircraft ran straight for approximately 300 feet and then veered to the left. Before reaching the left side of the strip the aircraft turned to the right and power was heard to increase markedly. The aircraft accelerated across the strip in a north easterly direction until it left the strip and struck an earth bank passing through it some nine inches from the top. It became airborne where the ground dropped away beside the strip and in a semi-stalled condition it flew for about 260 feet maintaining a mean 4 degrees descent down the hillside until it struck a large tree which tore off the left wing and the aircraft finally came to rest some 600 feet from the strip. The pilot suffered from an orthopaedic disability and wore a caliper on his left leg. The aircraft was fitted with a leather strap on the right rudder pedal which enabled the pilot to apply left rudder by pulling with his right foot. His licence restricted him to flying PA. 28 aircraft and he had demonstrated his competence at private licence standard.

The aircraft arrived at "Nelyambo" Station shortly before last light which was at 1809 hours. The weather was fine and clear with nil wind. On his first circuit the pilot thought he saw sheep adjacent to his intended landing path which was an unmarked dirt strip within a large paddock. To make sure that the area was clear the pilot completed a second circuit before commencing an approach to land. On final approach the pilot found that the surface light had faded badly, although the sky remained bright. Under these conditions he had difficulty in distinguishing the strip from its surroundings and the aircraft touched down approximately 100 feet to the left of the strip, striking a mound of earth two feet high. The aircraft ballooned and floated a further 330 feet before again contacting the ground. On the second touch-down the nosewheel collapsed and the aircraft overturned.

At approximately 1127 hours EST on 24th May, 1970, a parachutist was fatally injured on impact with the ground after his parachutes had failed to correctly deploy during a free fall descent near Wilton, New South Wales. The cause of the accident was that following a malfunction of his main parachute, the parachutist did not jettison the main parachute before attempting to deploy his reserve parachute.

The student pilot satisfactorily completed two normal circuits and landings and one short field landing in calm, clear conditions. He made an approach for a second short field landing but as the aircraft neared the aerodrome boundary fence on short final, the stall warning sounded. The pilot states that he applied power, but the port wing dropped sharply and struck a fence post 107 feet to the left of the runway centre line and just short of the threshold. The aircraft pitched forward onto its nosewheel and propeller, tearing off the yoke and nosewheel and then the starboard undercarriage strut and mainwheel as it rolled in that direction. It slewed on the starboard mainplane in an anti-clockwise direction before it came to a stop on a reciprocal heading.

The aircraft was spreading superphosphate in undulating country to the south of the Wyangala Dam. The section being treated was approximately one mile distant from the strip. The pilot had completed three sorties since commencing operations on the morning of the accident. After the fourth load had been spread, the aircraft was heard returning to the strip when the engine noise suddenly ceased and simultaneously a loud thud was heard by two loader drivers at the strip. The aircraft had crashed in the spreading area, striking the ground in a very steep nose down attitude. There were no witnesses to the flight path of the aircraft immediately prior to the impact and examination of the wreckage did not reveal any malfunction which may have caused or contributed to the accident.

The aircraft had been engaged in spreading operations during the morning and after a meal break, the aircraft was re-loaded and refuelled. At about 1500 hours the pilot began spreading superphosphate over selected areas either side of a low ridge In gently undulating country. In fine and calm weather conditions the spreading runs were made in a left hand pattern with a run in a north-easterly direction over one area and continuing in the pattern for a run in a south-westerly direction over the other areas while gradually working upslope towards the central ridge area. After making a run to the north-east the pilot commenced a turn to the left to position the aircraft for a run to the south-west and it was then seen to dive steeply toward the ground while dumping its load. The aircraft struck the ground in a right wing down attitude and came to rest about 105 feet from the Initial Impact point. An examination of the wreckage disclosed that the engine was under power at the time of the impact, and that the flaps were extended, probably at the 40 degree position.