The pilot aborted the first landing after the Searey Classic bounced twice on the lake near Winchester, Texas. During the second approach for landing, the airplane rolled right, and the pilot tried to counter the right roll with left aileron control input. The airplane’s nose then quickly dropped.
The pilot increased engine power and applied control inputs to recover the airplane, which decreased the nose down pitch and right roll, but there was not enough altitude to prevent the airplane from hitting the lake. When it hit the lake, it nosed over and came to rest inverted.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to wing and fuselage. The pilot sustained minor injuries in the crash.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to attain/maintain airplane control during a landing approach that resulted in an uncontrolled descent and an impact with the lake.
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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.
Seems like a rather ambitious flight for one who had a Seaplane Student endorsement for just over a month. He’s lucky he lived to tell about it. Landing on water and didn’t check the life vest? Well, at least he wore it. I wonder how the brown anchor in his pants affected his buoyancy?
Reported winds exceeded the maximum permissible landing headwind component by 6 MPH. I don’t envision that, after the fact, his wife was particularly happy with his decision to fly that day.
Sounds like the initial wing drop was already indicating a stall and left aileron only made it worse ( more right wing drag ). Torque from the engine helped lift the wing , but by then the lack of left rudder , which might have saved the situation, finished it.