Passengers Rattled, But Fine After Float Takes on Water

A seaplane coming in to land near Miami, Florida overturned after rollout, sending all 7 passengers aboard on a stressful, even harrowing dip in the seat that ultimately ended in relative safety.

A Cessna 208 on floats was meandering through a channel between Port Miami's cruise ship terminals and a connective causeway on its way back to the Miami Seaplane Base when it tipped over, dunking one of its wings in the sea. The 1999 Caravan had taken off at around 1300 hrs local time on Friday, and was coming back in after a successful tour of the local area. Witnesses in the area reported that the pilot had porpoised a couple times on landing, which is theorized to have caused the starboard float to slowly take on water. By the time they had taxied further into the harbor, the aircraft had begun to list to the point of dragging a wingtip.

Local Miami-Dade Fire & Rescue personnel were quick to arrive on scene, with the toppled Cessna causing a scene ashore only a few hundred feet away. All 7 passengers aboard were disembarked into Miami-Dade boats and taken back to shore, with no injuries reported in the days following the affair. Thanks to the relatively limited water logging of the aircraft, it was able to be towed off by local tugs in the water, with none of the local cruise liners or shipping operations impacted by the 'crash'. 

It's a nice little instance of a non-lethal seaplane "crash" for the local area, which still carries scars after a similar crash claimed 20 lives in 2005. That incident, Ocean Airways Flight 101, actually crashed in "Government Cut", not far from the site of Friday's crash. For everyone but the insurance adjusters and owners of the plane, "all's well that ends well".

FMI: www.faa.gov