MARCH 18  2008
A well known and experienced aerobatic pilot undergoing a mandatory biennial flight review was killed when the single-engine 2-seat Pitts S-2A aircraft he was in hit a tree during a forced landing

The instructor carrying out the review was able to walk away from the accident that occurred adjacent to the Northern Road two kilometres north of Oran Park just to the west of Sydney

 
The instructor was Keith Ker from the Red Baron Flight Training School based at Bankstown Airport who had been with the company for about 10 years

Media reports suggest the 200hp Bendix fuel-injected Pitts may have had an engine problem and was attempting an emergency landing when one of it's wings struck a tree

MARCH 15  2008
CASA issued an airworthiness directive that had the potential to ground up to 3,000 light aircraft saying they could not be flown until a licenced aircraft maintenance engineer had carried out an inspection

CASA then adjusted the directive saying pilots in remote areas could fly their plans to a maintenance base after doing a series of safety checks ...and that change upset the aircraft engineers union

 
Pilots can now visually check a small plug on the side of the fuel control unit to see if it's loose before flying to a base for another further inspection by licenced maintenance personnel

The AD involves all Bendix diaphragm type fuel injection systems that had a new factory supplied unit installed on an aircraft after August 2006