The pilot stated that he was conducting a demonstration flight near Tampa, Florida, with a passenger in the SeaRey, an amphibious experimental amateur-built airplane.
He reported that after takeoff, while explaining the operational characteristics of the airplane to his passenger, he forgot to raise the landing gear as was his custom.
Later in the flight, while performing a low-altitude slow flight maneuver over water, the landing gear made contact with the water’s surface. The airplane subsequently nosed over into the water and came to rest upright, resulting in substantial damage to the windscreen and front deck.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of this accident as the pilot’s failure to retract the landing gear after takeoff, which resulted in the landing gear contacting the water while maneuvering at low altitude.
NTSB Identification: ERA15CA010
This October 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.
……or maybe his passenger was enjoying the day “topless”, and feeling like a free spirit, and he was distracted for awhile………..it happens….
Amen!!!! From experience!!!!
You can’t fix stupid.
Don’t know that I’d call it “stupid”. Inattentive, unaware, focused on a sale rather than the aircraft, careless, maybe even reckless. Not “stupid”. I know a lot of smart people who sometimes (even consistently) fail to recognize that ‘smarts’ won’t inoculate them from falling for any or all of those other traps.
Lessor pilots use checklists… 🙁
It is unbelievable how may pilots never use a check list.
Agree