The pilot had flown into the "Trevallyn" agricultural strip and was about to commence operations. After the aircraft was loaded with 12 hundredweight of superphosphate the pilot made a normal turn away from the superphosphate dump and began his take-off in calm conditions. After travelling approximately 100 feet, and at a speed of about 40 knots, the aircraft veered to starboard. The pilot endeavoured to correct the swing by use of rudder and when he found he could not control the aircraft he closed the throttle in order to abandon the takeoff. The aircraft ran for some 150 feet towards the right hand side of the strip before the pilot was able to re-align it with the strip. It then ran for 21 feet along the edge of the strip before the nose gear assembly collapsed and the nose of the aircraft dropped. The propeller struck the ground several times and the aircraft nosed over on to its back and slid for a distance of 15 feet before coming to rest inverted. During the examination of the wreckage it was found that the nose gear lower pivot support assembly had failed. It was established that the failure occurred because the component was weakened by the presence of a large fatigue crack extending across the whole width of the lower face of the box section. The fatigue failure originated on either side of a pre-existing crack, the location and general appearance of which were consistent with restraint cracking which could have occurred during welding of the pivot housing to the box section at manufacture.

JA-8031 was engaged on a regular public transport flight from Sydney, Australia, to Manila, Philippines, thence to Tokyo, Japan, and was designated Japan Airlines Flight 772.

The aircraft had arrived at Sydney from Manila at 2200 hours Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 21st February and, after maintenance and routine servicing, engines were ground tested in an area set aside for this purpose. This work was completed at 0945 hours on 22nd February and the aircraft then remained unattended until 1120 hours on 22nd February when it was moved to the apron for pre-departure servicing and loading. After taxing at 1240 hours, the aircraft commenced to take off on Runway 34 at 1251 hours and, about one minute later, when the aircraft was at about 200 feet altitude, a person was seen to fall from the left main landing gear bay.

The aircraft carried as passengers, eight parachutists, who were to drop into the sea near Queenscliff in connection with a surf carnival. The dropping run was to be on a south easterly heading with the aircraft crossing the coastline at the southern end of the Queenscliff Beach at a height of 10,000 feet. On reaching the dropping zone the aircraft began to climb from 2,000 feet and had reached a height of 9,700 feet as the dropping run commenced. The run was slightly to the left of that intended however, and the aircraft crossed the coast further north along the beach. The jumpmaster, who was taking part in the jump, requested the pilot to make a second run. At that moment, the aircraft engine began surging and vibrating and some light smoke was seen in the cockpit. The pilot instructed the parachutists to leave the aircraft and all eight jumped in succession and were recovered safely from the water. The windscreen became covered in oil and the pilot, who was also wearing a parachute, decided that a landing would be difficult, so he abandoned the aircraft at a height of 5,000 feet. He was rescued from the sea a short time later. The aircraft crashed at high speed into the sea and apart from a fuel tank and portion of a wing, was not recovered.

After landing the pilot turned off the runway onto the taxyway leading to the apron. He then decided to refuel the aircraft and elected to taxy directly to the refuelling shed. As the aircraft left the movement area the nosewheel dropped into a drain, leading to a pipe culvert, which was on the very edge of the movement area and was difficult to see even at close range.

The pilot was manager-agent for an agricultural company. His commercial licence carried an endorsement for the aircraft type, but he did not hold an agricultural rating. He regularly carried out ferry, inspection and spray calibration flights in this aircraft and he had completed some preliminary training towards an agricultural rating. The rated pilot who normally carried out the spraying operations for the company was on vacation. On the evening before the accident the pilot accepted a telephoned request from a farmer to inspect an area of cane to determine its suitability for spraying. On the following morning the pilot loaded the aircraft with chemical and flew to the canefield where the farmer was working. After a superficial inspection of the area he commenced spraying. On the first run the aircraft entered the top of the cane crop. The pilot was unable to regain control and the aircraft crashed into an adjacent field. Fire broke out immediately and the aircraft was destroyed. The pilot suffered severe burns.

The pilot obtained area and terminal weather forecasts and submitted a flight plan for a VFR flight below 5,000 feet. Although advised that low cloud and poor visibility were expected towards Townsville, he did not nominate an alternate aerodrome, but indicated that he was aware that there were several suitable aerodromes en route. During the flight he was kept informed of the Townsville weather situation and at 0924 hours he was advised that Townsville was closed to VFR flights. Although the aircraft carried sufficient fuel for diversion to a suitable aerodrome, the pilot elected to proceed to a position 20-25 miles west of Townsville and hold outside controlled airspace. At 0942 he reported that he was beneath cloud, visual and that he had Townsville in sight. The weather at Townsville had improved slightly and he was given and acknowledged a clearance to enter the control zone with the requirement that within the zone he should maintain visual flight with reference to the ground. At 0952 the pilot reported that he was about 30 miles west of Townsville and at about this time an aircraft, believed to be VH-CVN, was seen 38 miles west of Townsville heading north in heavy rain beneath a 200 feet cloud base. The pilot was given heading information by Townsville to assist his navigation, but at 1018 communications were lost. The wreckage was found in mountainous country 21 miles west of Townsville. The aircraft had struck a timbered ridge about 150 feet below the crest while in almost level flight and on an easterly heading.

The airstrip at Tierawoomba is aligned east-west, with a prepared length of 2,480 feet and it slopes up at the eastern end towards trees which limit the effective length for a landing to the west. A gully 30 feet deep crosses the western end of the strip but this is not visible from an aircraft on the ground beyond about 200 feet from the gully. There is no ground marking to delineate the limits of the strip. The pilot had sought information concerning the strip but had been given only approximate dimensions and advised that aircraft similar to the PA24 had operated from the strip. The pilot had some difficulty in locating Tierawoomba and the aircraft arrived over the homestead some 22 minutes before last light. Notwithstanding that the flight had occupied some 52 minutes longer than was planned, the aircraft was still above the maximum gross weight permitted for landing. The weather was fine and overcast, with no wind and the pilot circled the airstrip and elected to land into the west. After approaching, the aircraft appeared to float for some distance before touching down in a position from which at least 900 feet remained in which to stop the aircraft before the gully was reached. To stop the aircraft from touchdown at the correct speed of 61.5 knots, and using maximum braking in the existing conditions, would have required 830 feet. Ground marks indicated that heavy braking commenced some 150 feet from the gully, but the pilot was unable to stop the aircraft before it plunged into the gully and struck the nearly vertical western wall.

On 28th January, 1970 at approximately 2137 hours EST, a Cessna 402 aircraft, registered VH-RIZ, struck trees and crashed to the ground on the western side of Bell Peak North, Queensland. The aircraft crashed in a heavily timbered area and the wreckage was scattered on a mean bearing of 310 degrees magnetic. Examination of the impact marks indicated that the aircraft had been under control in substantially level flight and probably descending at a shallow angle at the time of the accident.

Judging the airstrip to be wet the pilot elected to land on the sealed road adjacent to the township. During the landing the wings were damaged when the aircraft collided with traffic signs which the pilot had not observed adjacent to the road.

The flight was undertaken to provide some "unofficial" dual instruction towards endorsement of the type on the licence of the pilot under training. The aircraft was of the dual tandem cockpit type and communications between the two pilots was by means of voice tubes. At a low level during the approach for a practice forced landing the pilot-in-command took over the controls, adjusted the power and levelled the aircraft. He states that he then handed back control to the trainee pilot and accepted that the latter had control although he did not receive the usual response, "taking over". The trainee pilot states that he understood that the pilot-incommand continued to have control of the aircraft. The aircraft continued to fly in a wide shallow left turn at a low level and although each pilot thought that the other had control, each momentarily moved the controls to avoid an unsafe situation. Neither pilot observed that the aircraft was converging with a set of three power lines with which it ultimately collided. The wires did not break but the aircraft was flung sideways striking the ground with the port wing tip and rolling on to its back. There was no fire and the trainee pilot was able to vacate the rear cockpit unaided. He assisted the pilot-in-command to vacate the front cockpit.