Indications Are That Wheels Were Extended During Water Landing

Amphibious airplanes give their pilots a lot of versatility when it comes to choosing a landing site. However, an August 1st water landing resulted a fatal injury to an experienced floatplane pilot, and the NTSB's preliminary report indicates the wheels may have been extended during a water landing attempt in front of his home on Moosehead Lake in Maine. A passenger on board the aircraft survived the accident.

NTSB Identification: ERA10LA390
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, August 01, 2010 in Rockwood, ME
Aircraft: CESSNA A185F, registration: N369E
Injuries: 1 Fatal, 1 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On August 1, 2010 about 1115 eastern daylight time, a float equipped Cessna A185F, N369E, was substantially damaged while landing on Moosehead Lake near Rockwood, Maine. The airplane had departed the Steven A. Bean Municipal Airport (8B0), Rangeley, Maine. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The certificated airline transport pilot was fatally injured and the passenger was uninjured. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

According to a statement given by the passenger to the FAA inspector, just prior to the airplane making contact with the water the pilot made a verbal expression and immediately after making contact with the water, the airplane went to the left and nosed over. She also informed the FAA inspector that they departed a paved surface at 8B0.

The accident airplane was examined by the FAA inspector that traveled to the accident site. According to pictures provided by the FAA the outboard section of the left wing beginning about mid-span was bent in the positive direction approximately 15 degrees, the left float was buckled, and all four of the landing gears were in the down or extended position. Once the airplane was transported to the shoreline external power was applied to the aircraft and the four green landing gear lights illuminated indicating that the landing gear were extended and locked for landing on hard surfaces.

The pilot, age 64, held an airline transport pilot certificate with a rating for airplane multiengine land and type ratings for the Douglas DC 3, Grumman 1159, HS-125, and N-265. He also held a commercial pilot certificate, with ratings for airplane single-engine land, airplane single-engine sea, airplane multiengine sea, and rotorcraft-helicopter. His most recent FAA second-class medical certificate was issued on May 13, 2010 and at that time the pilot indicated 23,390 total hours of flight experience.

The airplane was manufactured in 1980 and was issued an FAA airworthiness certificate on February 6, 1980. The airplane's most recent annual/100-hour inspection was accomplished on January 14, 2010, at the time of the inspection the airplane had accrued 5,610.1 total hours and had indicated a tachometer time of 685.3 hours. At the time of the inspection the pitot/static system was also inspected.

The airplane was an all-metal, high-wing design with a Wipaire amphibious landing gear system installed. It was equipped with a Continental IO-520-D engine. According to aircraft logbook entries and FAA records the amphibious landing gear system was installed on the airplane on May 23, 2000. The airplane would be equipped with either the amphibious floats or skis depending on the time of year and the amphibious floats were re-installed on the airplane on June 23, 2010.

The 1056 recorded weather observation at the Greenville Municipal Airport (3B1), Greenville, Maine located approximately 15 miles to the southeast of the accident location, included calm wind, temperature 20 degrees C, dew point 11 degrees C; altimeter 30.09 inches of mercury.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov