Waikato Regional Council

Crashed in unknown circumstances at Limestone Downs. The pilot was injured and the aircraft was written off.

The pilot was a former member of the Royal Canadian Air Force where he had logged 1,260 hours flying in both single and multi-engined aircraft. He had come to New Zealand with the intention of working as an agricultural pilot. He had been employed by James Aviation as a trainee topdressing pilot and had completed 22 hours of supervised productive flying at the time of his death. His total flying in the FU24 was 31 hours. At 1315 on the day of the accident he took over ZK-BOB from another trainee, making three satisfactory sorties without incident and then departed on a fourth. Shortly afterwards the absence of engine noise was noticed by those on the airstrip and the supervising instructor took off immediately on an aerial search and located ZK-BOB, crashed and burning, about 400 metres outside the sowing area. The crash site was 92 metres below the level of the area being topdressed. The plane had cartwheeled, rotating about its normal axis and finishing up 12 metres beyond a decapitated pine sapling. The port outer wing section was found 29 metres from the main wreckage, its tip showing evidence of a severe ground impact at the leading edge. The port inner wing displayed a deep indentation at the leading edge just inboard of the outer wing joint. This indentation extended back to the rear spar. The rear spar had become distorted and had jammed the aileron pulley in a way that would sustain a steep left turn in flight. The entire central portion of the fuselage, including the cockpit, had been consumed by fire. The engine was embedded almost vertically in the ground to a depth of 600 mm. The pilot's body had been thrown from the cockpit by the force of the impact with the ground and was found a short distance away. It was noted immediately at the beginning of the crash investigation that the wreckage lay some 90 metres below the level of the dressing area, and in a place that the aircraft would not have crossed in the course of its sowing operation. Attention was then focused on the deep indentation in the leading edge of the port wing and the associated jamming of the aileron control pulley in a position that would sustain a left turn. There was no object in the wide area around the crash site that could account for this damage. It was established that the pine sapling close to the wreck had been sheared through by the aircraft's propeller. It was suspected that, when flying in the sowing area, the aircraft had hit some obstruction, the damage from which had forced the plane into an irrecoverable steep left turn, or locked the plane into such a turn if it was making the manoeuvre at the time of collision. An intensive search was made in the sowing area to locate some object that could have caused the deep indentation to the port inner wing section. No completely reliable evidence was found, but two trees on the edge of the sowing area showed the sort of damage that an aircraft might inflict. Furthermore, there were trails of superphosphate leading up to those trees and leading away from them in the direction of the valley below. A flying trial showed that a Fletcher making a steep left-hand turn over those trees would pass directly over the crash site. However, no evidence in the form of wreckage or paint particles was found in the trees.
Source: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=63267

Loss of control during a routine aerial topdressing flight. The pilot was new to ag. flying having made his first topdressing sortie on the 10th of October, and had logged fifty hours of topdressing in the twenty-two subsequent days before he was killed. His flying time in the FU24 was 68 hours. His total time, dual and solo, was 281 hours. The loader driver saw the aircraft making a normal sowing run and then, climbing to 150 feet, enter a medium turn to the right. It appeared that the pilot was positioning his aircraft for a run on a reciprocal heading. This turn progressed through 90 degrees and then the witness saw the nose begin to drop, accompanied by an increase in both the angle of bank and rate of turn. This unusual attitude so close to the ground caused the loader driver to leave his cab and run in the direction of the plane as it disappeared from his view behind a hill. Another witness, who saw the full sequence of events, said the the plane made two full rotations in its spiral dive before crashing and exploding in flames. The weather was CAVU and calm, ideal conditions. The engine was producing power right up to impact. There was no evidence of structural failure in flight.

The pilot, sole on board, was involved in a crop spraying mission in the region of Putaruru. While cruising at low height, the single engine aircraft struck power cables and crashed in a field 109 meters farther. The airplane was destroyed upon impact and the pilot, Bruce John Oliver, was killed.

The aircraft was owned by M. A. Scott and piloted by C. C. Waite who was taking part to an airshow in Waihou, southwest of Te Aroha, Waikato. While performing a demonstration flight, the single engine aircraft collided with a Desoutter registered ZK-ACJ. Following the collision, the Moth dove into the ground and crashed, killing the pilot. The pilot of the Desoutter was able to land without further problem. The exact circumstances of the collision remains unclear.

Captain A. W. Saunders was performing demo flights on the racecourse of Te Awamutu. With his passenger Alfred W. Minchin, he climbed to a height of 1,000 feet when the plane was seen to enter a spin. The spin was recovered from about 50 feet and the Moth was still diving when it impacted the ground. Both occupants were seriously injured and evacuated to the local hospital. While the passenger died from his injuries in the evening, the pilot died the following day. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces.