Cessna 172RG, VH-WMX, Lake Grace WA, 9 October 1982

At the time of the accident, weather conditions were fine but it was a very dark night. The stars were obscured by a high overcast and there were only a few ground lights. The horizon was not visible. The take-off was into the southeast. Shortly after becoming airborne the aircraft entered a left turn and then began to descend. This continued until the aircraft struck the surface of a salt lake, in an inverted attitude. No contributory faults could be found with the aircraft or aircraft systems. The pilot was inexperienced in night operations and on this occasion there was a lack of external visual cues available. It is probable that the pilot became disorientated during the turn after take-off and lost control of the aircraft.