Loss of control

The aircraft touched down about 160 metres past the threshold of the 650 metre strip and bounced. The pilot applied power to go around and progressively raised the flap, but the aircraft then began to sink and he was unable to prevent the left wing striking the ground. The aircraft cartwheeled and rapidly came to a halt. During the bounce the aircraft had drifted towards a tree on the right side of the strip. The pilot had commenced the left turn to avoid the tree and had not straightened the flight path for the go around. Flap retraction had been too rapid, considering the speed and attitude during the turn and the aircraft was probably in a stalled condition when contact with the ground occurred.

Following a period of dual instruction, the student was authorised to conduct a series of solo circuits and landings. On the first approach he lowered 30 degrees of flap and the aircraft touched down normally. After travelling about 50 metres, the aircraft veered sharply to the left, ran off the side of the strip, and came to rest in a shallow ditch just outside the boundary of the strip. The approach and landing had been conducted in light crosswind conditions. While compensating for these conditions, the pilot had probably inadvertently applied excessive forward pressure to the control column and a "wheel-barrow" situation developed. The elevator trim was found to be in the take-off position, which would have compounded the nose-down tendency during the landing roll.

During the take-off run the left wheel locked. The aircraft groundlooped to the left, the right gear leg collapsed and the nose section and right wing struck the ground. During prior maintenance of the left wheel hub the inboard bearing had not been correctly reinstalled and it subsequently collapsed into the centre of the wheel assembly during the take-off run.

Circumstances:

The pilot reported losing thermal activity during the return leg of a cross-country task. On descending to 2000 feet above ground level, she elected to carry out an outlanding and selected a field. The pilot reported experiencing difficulty on maintaining wings level on final approach. The glider apparently struck the ground with the left wingtip during the attempted landing and spun through 180 degrees, sustaining substantial damage. A site inspection of the ground marks and wreckage trail by the club Chief Flying Instructor indicated that the landing had apparently been carried out downwind.

Circumstances:

The aircraft was one of two being used to muster a large paddock and was being operated by an experienced mustering pilot with a trainee mustering pilot on board. At the completion of the paddock muster, the aircraft was carrying out yard up operations which required manoeuvres at low altitudes. Whilst chasing a breakaway beast, the pilot turned tightly, and a main rotor blade contacted the ground. The aircraft tumbled forward and came to rest on its side. It is probable that the pilot was concentrating his attention on the escaping beast and did not pay sufficient attention to flying his aircraft.

Towards the end of the landing roll the aircraft began to diverge to the right. The pilot unsuccessfully attempted to correct the situation and the aircraft ground looped. The left main gear leg was broken off and the left wing, tailplane and the propeller struck the ground. The pilot was inexperienced on tailwheel aircraft and the landing was conducted in light quartering tailwind conditions.

When the gear was selected down it did not fully extend and the gear circuit breaker tripped. Initially the circuit breaker could not be reset nor could the gear be lowered using the emergency system. The circuit breaker was subsequently reset and a gear down indication obtained. Shortly after touchdown the aircraft yawed until it was travelling backwards. The tailskid struck the runway and the aircraft came to rest after turning through a further 90 degrees. The right main wheel was found to have turned through 90 degrees because the scissor linkage arms had become disconnected. A castellated nut and its retaining split pin was found to be missing from the bolt which joins the scissor linkage arms. The reason for the loss of these items could not be positively established.

The pilot reported that, after commencing the take-off with flaps up, he selected 10 degrees of flap and rotated at 60 knots. Although the aircraft became airborne it did not climb normally. The aircraft struck a telephone line near the end of the strip and then landed in a paddock before passing under a power line. With full power still applied, the pilot attempted to clear a fence but the wing leading edges struck fenceposts. The aircraft landed heavily and came to rest 478 metres from the strip end. The take-off performance had been degraded by a loss of engine power resulting from unserviceable piston rings in two cylinders. The aircraft was being operated at some 120 Kilograms in excess of the weight extracted from the performance charts as being the maximum allowable for the strip length.

Circumstances:

There was a thunderstorm in the vicinity of Koolan Island when the aircraft arrived, and the pilot held until the storm had cleared the area. The pilot made a normal full flap approach touching down approximately 300 metres into the 661 metre strip. After approximately 100 metres of ground roll on the wet gravel/coral strip, all braking effectiveness ceased. The pilot attempted to steer the aircraft to the left to avoid overrunning the end of the strip, however, the aircraft skidded, turned through 180 degrees, and came to a stop partially off the strip, resting on the cargo pod and the right wing tip. After the aircraft stopped the pilot observed the surface was hard, there were oil-soaked areas on the surface and water was still running off the strip.

On the morning of the accident a periodic inspection had been completed on the aircraft. Following this inspection, the pilot, accompanied by an engineer, carried out a satisfactory test flight in the helicopter. The pilot then lunched with the engineers and after farewelling them at the airport was driven to the helicopter to prepare for the flight back to the mustering camp. The helicopter was later observed by a stockman who was travelling in a vehicle towards the mustering camp. When the helicopter was first seen it was flying at a height of about 200 feet above the tops of the trees in the direction of the camp. It then appeared to stop, turn abruptly through 90 degrees to the left, roll to the left and spin through 360 degrees before impacting the ground inverted. At about the same time as the helicopter turned to the left an object was seen to fly horizontally away from the aircraft to the right. After ground impact a fire broke out and engulfed the wreckage. An extensive search of the area failed to locate the object that had fallen from the helicopter. However it is believed that the object may have been one of several cans of oil or grease the pilot was known to have carried in the aircraft. The examination of wreckage did not reveal any defect in the helicopter which was likely to have contributed to the occurrence. The reason for the loss of control by the pilot could not be determined.