On a previous flight, the pilot of the Searey, an amphibious light sport airplane, had pulled the landing gear circuit breakers to mitigate the risk of accidentally raising the landing gear while on the ground.
Prior to the accident flight, which departed from a hard-surface runway, he serviced the airplane with fuel and performed a preflight check. He intended to perform water landings on a lake in Lake Havasu, California, and after takeoff he selected the gear-up switch but had forgotten to reset the circuit breakers.
Shortly after takeoff he felt a light airframe vibration and decided to expedite the landing. While circling the landing spot, and slowing the airplane for the approach, the gear misconfigured warning sounded. However, the pilot silenced the warning because his attention was diverted by the landing due to the vibration, so the gear remained extended as the airplane touched the water. The airplane then nosed over and sustained substantial damage. The pilot sustained minor injuries in the crash.
The “before engine start” checklist in the pilot’s operating handbook states that the circuit breakers should be in. There is no reference in the handbook to pulling the circuit breakers to prevent accidental activation.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to confirm the landing gear was configured for a water landing during the approach. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s deviation from the airplanes operating procedures by previously pulling the landing gear circuit breakers, which resulted in the landing gear not retracting when commanded during takeoff.
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This December 2023 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.
Many years earlier, a pilot was detailed to a carry out an observation flights to some high level government dignitaries with the government of West Bengal state in India. The place was Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. The aircraft was an amphibian Cessna Caravan 208. It was a single pilot operation. No safety briefings were made to his passengers.
Cessna Caravan departed from a land airport from Port Blair. As the observation flight, the pilot was to make a water landing at a harbour aerodrome. Unfortunately, his gear was still down when the airplane touched the water. The Cessna flipped over. Some passengers lost their lives.
A mistake with not a happy ending.
I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that he pulled the breaker to keep from retracting the gear on the ground. And it’s visible!
I have to admit to this being the first time I read that gear down on landing was the problem.
Watch AOPA video: “No Greater Burden”
https://youtu.be/8bjsxBEVl5o?si=6yq8JkrvA7jFt8aG
Oh, those pesky warning horns. So annoying. Why not just remove it from the craft as I don’t pay any attention to it anyway. What could go wrong? A great example of the perfect chain of events all the way to the crash.
As owner pilot of a Lake Buccaneer, I was taught during my training that an amphibian pilot should always be uneasy when the gear is down. Landing gear up on land is far less serious than landing gear down on water. SPA recommends on land takeoff “Positive rate gear up.” I cannot believe anyone would deliberately disable the gear actuator. In the Searey, like the Lake, the main landing gear are directly visible from the pilot seat. So, feeling vibration and probably drag, wouldn’t it be good to look out the window? Anyone can get behind the airplane and make a mistake, so why set yourself up for a big one?
We pilots continually invent new and ridiculous ways to tear up airplanes.
Glad he wasn’t hurt.
Yes, perfect example for the mantra to always follow standard procedures, not 99% of the time, but 100% of the time.