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1937 Maude "Lores" Bonney completed the first flight from Australia to South Africa, flying solo from Archerfield to Cape Town in her Klemm Kl 32 "My Little Ship" on Wednesday, 18 Aug 1937. Source: Kristen Alexander, Taking Flight: Lores Bonney's Extraordinary Flying Career, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2016

1972 Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche C VH-WJC operated by Campbell's Belting Service Pty Ltd crashed at Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory on 18 August 1972. The aircraft was engaged in the transport of personnel and materials in connection with the installation and maintenance of conveyor belting. The flight had commenced at Maitland, New South Wales, on the previous day and, prior to departure, the pilot had loaded the aircraft with a quantity of heavy, low volume materials. With one passenger on board, the flight to Groote Eylandt had been uneventful. At Groote Eylandt the main and wing tip fuel tanks were replenished for the final stage of the flight to Gove. Before the aircraft began its departure from Groote Eylandt, two more passengers, their baggage and further materials of trade were loaded on board and distributed by the pilot. The weather was fine and clear and the wind was calm. After the engines were started, the aircraft taxied to the eastern end of the 6,240 feet long bitumen runway and then commenced a take off into the west. Following a ground run of about 3,000 feet the aircraft became airborne and entered a gentle climb. The nose of the aircraft was then seen to rise, the climbing angle increased abruptly and the aircraft climbed steeply to a height of some 300 feet. At this point the port wing went down very quickly until the aircraft was banked almost vertically. The nose then dropped and the aircraft entered a flat, left hand spin from which it did not recover. The aircraft struck the ground at a position 150 feet to the left of the runway centreline and 4480 feet from the eastern end of the runway. The undercarriage was found to have been down at impact and there was no fire. However, all four persons on board were killed. The cause of the accident was that the pilot loaded the aircraft without adequate regard to the limits of gross weight and the position of the centre of gravity. It has been calculated that, before the flight began, the loaded aircraft weighed 4433 pounds, which is 705 pounds in excess of the maximum permissible gross weight and the centre of gravity, with the undercarriage down, was located 3.9 inches aft of the rear limit specified for the aircraft type. This loading configuration could lead to the aircraft entering an uncontrolled nose pitch up condition with insufficient stabilator control available to correct the situation. There was no defect of the airframe or engines which could have contributed to the loss of the control experienced. Sources: ATSB, aviation-safety.net website

2007 The Queensland Coroner found that a pilot of the Transair flight attempted an unauthorised manoeuvre, while an airline with a poor safety management system also contributed to the deaths of 15 people at Lockhart River in far north Queensland on 7 May 2005. The Coroner's report issued on 18 August 2007 was critical of CASA’s monitoring of Transair, but found the regulator could not have prevented the crash. Source: AAP, ‘Coroner blames pilot and airline over 15 deaths’, Melbourne Age, 18 August 2007, p. 8. via aph.gov.au website