The pilot reported that he was landing the Javron PA-12 Replica on a river near Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. After he conducted his before landing “GUMP” checklist he extended the landing gear on his amphibious airplane in error.
Following the water landing, the airplane came to rest inverted in the river and sustained substantial damage to both wings and the windscreen. The pilot sustained minor injuries in the crash.
The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to properly configure the landing gear on his amphibious airplane before landing on water.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This February 2024 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.
The pilot had extensive experience being a former airline pilot type rated in multiple heavy aircraft, and accumulating 462 hours in the float plane make and model. It strikes me that he might have suffered from a minor TIA, or he was distracted falling back on habit. I commend him for going through the GUMP check, where there are those who frequently don’t landing gear up on hard surface. However, the mental process taking off and landing an amphibious float plane is entirely different. It requires a mental awareness that has to be first and foremost the most important aspect of operating off of a hard surface and landing on water. It is a mindset regardless of placards, check lists, etc. It’s always positive rate, gear up taking off a hard surface. Confirm the gear are in transit, then confirm gear up, blue lights. Ten miles from the lake/water confirm gear up again, blue lights, also visually check gear up. For those not familiar with amphibious floats, there are visual indicators on the floats that confirm gear up or down. Flying an amphibious float plane can be challenging for this reason. The gear procedure is backwards when landing on water. This is why it has to be a mindset always being aware of the dangers of landing on water with the gear down. I speak from experience, for I own a PA12 amphibious float plane upgraded to a PA18. I recognize the potential for distractions when returning to land on a hard surface. I therefore put the gear down 5 miles from the airport to avoid any distractions. I always check gear up 10 and 5 miles from water. It’s a mind set to assure safety.
“No Greater Burden: Surviving an Aircraft Accident”
https://youtu.be/8bjsxBEVl5o
If you haven’t seen this video; watch it.
Today.
And snide comments are never helpful!
If you read further, Jerry, my comment was not meant to be snide but I grant you it was poorly worded. If you check all the comments, you’ll see the explanation. I won’t boil the cabbage a third time.
This is somehow a cruel insult, but I guess there needed to be a placard, “Do Not Extend Wheels When Landing on Water”.
Armchair pilots never make mistakes.
I made plenty of mistakes as a pilot Barbara, and I learned from them. If I kept making the same mistake, I used an instructor to train that mistake out to perform properly. However, the way I worded my comment was not as I intended it to mean. Too many have failed to extend the gear on retractable landing gear when they should have, but in the case the gear was already in place, the floats. He extended additional gear which was a cruel and unfortunate situation.
Also, the goal here is to learn form the seat behind the monitor, and not make the same mistake from the pilot seat.
That would be a valid placard or a checklist item, indeed.