Aerial Agriculture

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

The aircraft had been delayed in servicing and repair and had only been released six weeks prior to the accident. This delay had caused the operator/pilot to fall behind in his commitments and, according to some witnesses, caused him to worry about the situation. On the day of the accident, the pilot had just completed spraying a 243 hectare paddock and had landed to reload. After take-off for the new task, the pilot was seen to make an aerial inspection of the paddock before entering the first swath run. At the end of this run, the aircraft collided with a Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) powerline and crashed. It was later shown that the aircraft was in a bank to the right of about 18 degrees. The SWER line ran across one end of the paddock at an angle and on the crop side of a windmill just inside the fence which bordered the road. The line contacted the right maingear and outboard sprayboom attachment struts on the right wing. The wire broke after impact but the aircraft hit the ground heavily on the right main gear. The gear detached from the aircraft, the propeller struck the ground and the aircraft slewed around as it came to rest after some 27 metres of ground travel. The front half of the aircraft was destroyed by fire which broke out almost immediately the aircraft stopped. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

Superphosphate spreading was being carried out, with the aircraft uplifting one tonne loads about every 6 minutes. Fuel endurance with both tanks full was approximately 2 hours. The pilot was conducting his 25th takeoff for the day, about one hour after refuelling. Witnesses observed that the aircraft did not become airborne at the usual point, two-thirds of the way along the 675 metre strip. Lift-off finally occurred at the end of the strip, but almost immediately afterwards the aircraft clipped a fence. It was seen to sink slightly, before climbing at a steeper than normal angle until some 250 metres beyond the fence. At this point the nose dropped suddenly and the aircraft dived into rising ground in a steep nose down attitude. Fire broke out on impact and consumed much of the wreckage. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

While completing a local topdressing flight, the pilot lost control of the airplane that crashed in a field. The airplane was destroyed and the pilot, sole on board, was killed. It seems that the aircraft was working and part-way through an agricultural procedure turn, pulling probably 2G+ as normal, when the fin attachment bolts failed. The investigation concluded that apparently the fin and rudder had rolled through about 90 degrees and rested (horizontally) on the tailplane and elevator. The pilot would have been immediately deprived of vertical and directional control at that instant. Being at low altitude, there would have been no means of recovering, even if some vertical control could have been achieved. The wreckage was beyond economic repair and the aircraft was written off at that time. However, the investigation did lead to fleet-wide inspection of all fin attachment bolts and some worn/cracked bolts were revealed. An Airworthiness Directive was immediately issued and all the DHC-2 Beavers were grounded until the inspections and bolt replacements had been completed. While the Beaver was built as a rugged bush aircraft, it was subjected to repeated overload operations from rough agricultural airstrips and subjected to high aerodynamic G forces in every day of agricultural operations. Source: Geoff Goodall.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

Crashed in a field in Queanbeyan while conducting a crop spraying mission. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot, sole on board, was injured.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

The pilot was performing a spraying mission in Aberfoyle when flying at low height, the airplane went out of control, dove into the ground and crashed. The pilot was killed.

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

Crashed in unknown circumstances in Woolbrook while performing a local spraying mission. The pilot, sole on board, was slightly injured.