Queensland

The aircraft departed Cairns airport at 0707 Eastern Standard Time (EST) on a charter flight to Hicks Island. The aircraft was being operated under the Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and the expected flight time was 2 hours. Shortly after takeoff the pilot requested an amended altitude of 4,000 ft. He indicated that he was able to continue flight with visual reference to the ground or water. Air Traffic Services (ATS) issued the amended altitude as requested. The IFR Lowest Safe Altitude for the initial route sector to be flown was 6,000 ft Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL). Data recorded by ATS indicated that approximately 13 minutes after departure, the aircraft disappeared from radar at a position 46NM north of Cairns. At the last known radar position the aircraft was cruising at a ground speed of 180 kts and at an altitude of 4,000 ft AMSL. An extensive search located the wreckage the following afternoon at a location consistent with the last known radar position, on the north-western side of Thornton Peak at an altitude of approximately 4,000 ft (1219 metres) AMSL. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and post-impact fire. The pilot and three passengers received fatal injuries. Thornton Peak is the third highest mountain in Queensland and is marked on topographic maps as 4,507 ft (1,374 metres) in elevation. Local residents reported that the mountain was covered by cloud and swept by strong winds for most of the year. The aircraft had been observed by witnesses approximately two minutes prior to impact cruising at high speed, on a constant north-westerly heading, in a wings level attitude and with flaps and landing gear retracted. They stated that the engines appeared to sound normal.

On 4 September 2000, a Beech Super King Air 200 aircraft, VH-SKC, departed Perth, Western Australia at 1009 UTC on a charter flight to Leonora with one pilot and seven passengers on board. Until 1032 the operation of the aircraft and the communications with the pilot appeared normal. However, shortly after the aircraft had climbed through its assigned altitude, the pilot’s speech became significantly impaired and he appeared unable to respond to ATS instructions. Open microphone transmissions over the next 8-minutes revealed the progressive deterioration of the pilot towards unconsciousness and the absence of any sounds of passenger activity in the aircraft. No human response of any kind was detected for the remainder of the flight. Five hours after taking off from Perth, the aircraft impacted the ground near Burketown, Queensland, and was destroyed. There were no survivors.

A Shrike Commander departed Horn Island on a charter flight to Saibai and Boigu Islands in accordance with the visual flight rules (VFR). The flight to Saibai took 32 minutes, and a further 13 minutes to Boigu Island. The aircraft then departed Boigu to return to Horn Island with an expected flight time of 35 minutes. The pilot reported that he had maintained 5,500 ft until commencing descent at 35 NM from Horn Island. He tracked to join final approach to runway 14 by 5 NM, reducing power at 1,500 ft. At 5 NM from the runway, the pilot extended the landing gear and approach flap and commenced a long final approach. When the aircraft was approximately 3 NM from the runway both engines commenced to surge, with the aircraft initially yawing to the right. The pilot commenced engine failure procedures and retracted the flaps. He tried a number of times to determine which engine was losing power by retarding the throttle for each engine, before deciding that the right engine was failing. The pilot shut down that engine and feathered the propeller. A short time later, when the aircraft was approximately 200 ft above the water, the left engine also lost power. The pilot established the aircraft in a glide, advised the passengers to prepare for a ditching, and transmitted a MAYDAY report on the flight service frequency before the aircraft contacted the sea. The aircraft quickly filled with water and settled on the seabed. All five occupants were able to escape and make their way ashore.

The aircraft was the third in a stream of five company aircraft departing the Tangalooma Resort airstrip at two-minute intervals on a clear moonlit evening. Following a routine departure at 2105 EST, the aircraft was climbed to 3,000 ft for the flight back to Coolangatta. Early in the cruise phase of the flight, the pilot found that the fourth aircraft was catching up to his and he elected to descend to 2,000 ft to ensure continued separation. At 2127 EST, the pilot reported to Coolangatta Approach Control that the aircraft had severe problems, but did not inform the controller of the nature of his emergency. However, the controller activated the airport emergency procedures when he observed on his radar display that the aircraft was losing altitude. The pilot had his second VHF radio transceiver tuned to his company frequency, and was answering transmissions received from other company pilots on this frequency while transmitting on the Coolangatta Approach frequency. The pilot later said that after the aircraft passed the seaway at Southport, the right engine surged, which resulted in the aircraft yawing. After he switch the electric fuel pump to "on", the symptoms disappeared. About a minute later he switched the pump off, then on again. He said that when the engine began surging again, he shut the engine down, feathering the propeller. Left engine power was increased and the aircraft maintained 1,500 ft in level flight. He switched the left engine's fuel supply to the right main tank, believing that this action would ensure supply from both main fuel tanks. The pilot said that after the aircraft passed Burleigh Heads, many things appeared to go wrong at once. The left engine began to splutter and did not respond to the throttle. He recalled attempting to restart the right engine. This proved to be unsuccessful. As the descent continued he planned to land on a beach. The pilot selected a stretch of beach for a forced landing. During late final approach, aided by bright moonlight, he noticed that any overrun would take the aircraft into a crowded car park. He changed his aim point to the stretch of beach south of the Currumbin Lifesavers Clubhouse. Following the flare for landing, the right wing struck a low rocky outcrop and the aircraft crashed into the surf. The entire wing assembly separated from the fuselage, which came to rest on its left side. Some of the nine passengers, and the pilot, escaped from the semi-submerged fuselage while bystanders rescued others.

The aircraft was engaged on a charter flight for the BHP Cannington mine, and departed from Townsville at 0630 EST. The flight was uneventful and the aircraft landed at Cannington at 0840. The aircraft was refuelled and at about 0945 seven passengers and baggage were loaded. The aircraft was started and taxied for runway 36. During this time the necessary checks were completed. The takeoff was commenced, and after the aircraft became airborne and was accelerating with a positive rate of climb, the landing gear was selected up. While the gear was still in transit, there was a sudden power loss from the left engine. The pilot described a simultaneous height loss, roll, pitch, and yaw accompanied by a sound similar to a buzz saw from the left engine. The pilot immediately recognised that the left engine had failed and attempted to maintain speed and directional control. Power was reduced on the right engine to maintain directional control, and it was the pilot's intention to land the aircraft with gear retracted beyond the end of the runway. However, the left wingtip struck a steel fence post, and this spun the aircraft to the left. The aircraft struck a low earth bank while travelling sideways and rearwards. When the aircraft came to rest, all windows were obscured and the pilot believed the aircraft was on fire. The pilot tried unsuccessfully to open the main cabin door, and the passengers were then evacuated through the emergency exit.

At approximately 0910 EST, the aircraft took off from runway 32 at Horn Island and commenced a normal climb. Shortly after, it adopted a nose-high attitude and commenced a wingover type manoeuvre to the right. Witnesses described the aircraft as being in a nose-low attitude, and at a height of approximately 600 ft to 700 ft above ground level after the completion of this manoeuvre. It then abruptly adopted a level attitude and rapidly entered a spin to the left. Witnesses on the ground reported that at approximately the same time as the aircraft entered the spin, engine power became asymmetric, with the right engine continuing to deliver considerable power. The aircraft continued to descend in a fully developed flat spin, with no observed signs of an attempt to recover. The impact was heard shortly after the aircraft descended behind vegetation to the north-west of the aerodrome. The accident was reported to Flight Service by radio at 0918. The wreckage was located on a beach approximately 2 km to the north-west of the aerodrome. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and the pilot sustained fatal injuries.

The aircraft was the second to take off in a stream of six on a night flight from the Tangalooma Resort strip to Coolangatta aerodrome. Shortly after takeoff it struck the ground, nosed over and was consumed by a fuel-fed fire. The take-off run appeared normal but the initial climb was shallow according to the witnesses, some of whom were pilots waiting their turn to take off. At about 150 ft above ground level the aircraft entered a descent which continued until ground impact, 164 m beyond the departure end of the strip. The nose gear collapsed at impact but the aircraft remained upright and skidded along the ground on its main gear and front fuselage. It traversed a low sand dune, fell 10 ft to the beach and overturned. The aircraft came to rest 112 m beyond the first ground contact. All four passengers were able to evacuate the aircraft which had started to burn. The pilot was rescued by her passengers.

The aircraft was engaged in aero-magnetic survey operations in an area which extended from approximately 40–130 km south of Cloncurry. The task involved flying a series of north-south tie lines spaced 2 km apart at a height above ground of 80 m and a speed of 140 kts. At this speed, each tie line occupied about 20 minutes of flight time. The flight was planned to depart Cloncurry at 0700–0730 EST and was to return by 1230 to prepare data collected during the flight for transfer to the company’s head office. An employee of the operating company saw the crew (pilot and equipment operator) preparing to depart the motel for the airport at about 0500. No person has been found who saw the crew at the aerodrome or who saw or heard the aircraft depart. At about 1000, three witnesses at a mining site in the southern section of the survey area saw a twin-engine aircraft at low level heading in a northerly direction. One of these witnesses, about 1.5 hours later, saw what he believed was the same aircraft flying in an easterly direction about 1 km from his position. Between 1000 and 1030, two witnesses at a mine site some 9 km north of the survey area (and about 5 km west of the accident site) heard an aircraft flying in a north-south direction, apparently at low level. On becoming aware that the aircraft had not returned to Cloncurry by 1230, a company employee at Cloncurry initiated various checks at Cloncurry and other aerodromes in the area, with Brisbane Flight Service, and with the company’s head office later in the afternoon. At about 2030, the employee advised the company chief pilot that the aircraft was overdue. The chief pilot contacted the Civil Aviation Authority Search and Rescue organisation at about 2045 and search-and-rescue action was initiated. The burnt-out wreckage of the aircraft was found early the following morning approximately 9 km north of the survey area.

On the day before the accident, the aircraft flew from Aurukun to Weipa with the chief pilot occupying the left pilot seat and the pilot involved in the accident occupying the right pilot seat. At Weipa the chief pilot left the aircraft, instructing the other pilot to fly some practice circuits before returning the aircraft to Aurukun. Before commencing the circuits and the return flight to Aurukun, the aircraft's two main tanks each contained 100 L of fuel and the two wing tip tanks each contained about 90 L of fuel. On the day of the accident the pilot added 200 L of fuel at Aurukun to the aircraft's tanks and then flew the aircraft and the passengers to Weipa. About 50 minutes before sunset, the aircraft taxied for departure from runway 30 for the 25-minute return flight to Aurukun. When the aircraft was about 300 ft above ground level after takeoff, a witness reported that all engine sounds stopped and that the aircraft attitude changed from a nose-high climb to a more level attitude. A short time later, the noise of engine power surging was heard. The aircraft rolled left and entered a spiral descent. It struck level ground some 350 m beyond the departure end of runway 30 and 175 m to the left of the extended centreline. All six occupants were killed.

The aircraft, with only the pilot on board, was being flown from Archerfield to Caboolture via the light aircraft lane to the west of Brisbane in company with another aircraft. About five minutes after departing Archerfield, the pilot radioed that he was experiencing problems with both engines and that he was in an emergency situation. The pilot of the other aircraft advised him that there were suitable forced landing areas in and around a nearby golf course. However, the aircraft continued and slowly lost altitude before rolling inverted and diving steeply into the ground. Ground witnesses reported hearing loud backfiring and fluctuating engine RPM from the aircraft. These sounds were accompanied by erratic rolling and yawing of the aircraft before it rolled to the left and inverted. The right wing was severed outboard of the engine as the aircraft impacted a large tree before crashing onto a road.