The pilot and passenger were returning home after attending a fly-in at another airport. The passenger reported that, during the descent to land, the pilot spotted a boat on the lake near Frankston, Texas, and began to follow it at low altitude.
The pilot then made a steep turn, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and experiencing an aerodynamic stall.
The pilot then lost control, and the airplane subsequently hit the water, resulting in one serious injury and one minor injury.
The pilot and passenger were rescued by nearby boaters. The airplane wreckage was not recovered from the water.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering at low altitude, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and experiencing an aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s decision to make a steep turn at low altitude.
NTSB Identification: CEN14LA342
This July 2014 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
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I guess we could say; he just went for a “dip”?
Folks, why does this sopprise you ? Its the same people that drive cars on the public street that run stop signs, speed when posted, do all the things that they want to without any consideration for anyone but themselves, i’m sorry to say are the same people that fly airplanes. There is no difference between the two. All the crazy things you see drivers of cars do, are done in the air by aledged pilots. It still boils down to that little piece of, ” poop ” between the ears that keeps crashing airplanes and mameing people and sometimes worse..What can anyone say ??????? thanks
Again………. POOR HEADLINE………… the aircraft did not end up in the water because the aircraft was flown low over the lake…….. it entered the water because the PILOT IN COMMAND exceeded (apparently) the design limits of the aircraft…………. had nothing to do with flying low and everything to do with the pilot (apparently) not understanding how to control the aircraft. I notice that the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds (and other acts) fly low to the ground and water… yet do not end up in the water…… PILOT ERROR is the headline, aircraft did exactly what is was told to do.
Hey Bill,
Give it a break, no one cares about your critique of headlines.
The pilot succeeded in showing off to everyone while sustaining injury and ditching his airplane in the drink all the result of poor judgement and poor flying skill. Stupid is as stupid does.
The boat he was overflying probably rescued him. I read the caption and laughed, another idiot doing something stupid and outing another bad mark on GA. You can’t fix stupid, and as long as we have Stupid pilots GA will continue to get the black eye.
What a real genius… This is exactly what gives the public at large the impression that flying isn’t safe. Just because a pilot made horrible decisions. Hopefully the FAA will do a reevaluation checkride on the pilot. Lord knows there are way too many unsafe idiots out there.
Brilliant! I’m sure he succeeded in impressing the folks on the boat…