- Date
- July 17, 2009, 16:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Fox Lake, IL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7482QCessna C-182
- Defining event
- Landing: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA-DuPage FSDO
- FAA report
- 20090717020259A
- Case key
- 74326
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate flight planning and continued flight into adverse weather resulting in the collision with the pier during landing.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot was moving his float-equipped airplane from his pier to the other side of the lake in order to dock at his friend’s pier temporarily. He decided to fly it to the other side of the lake instead of performing a water taxi. He departed into the wind, and during climbout, he encountered heavy rain showers which obscured his forward visibility out the windshield. He executed a downwind landing to the lake by looking out the side window. He reported that during the landing, he could not slow the airplane down enough to avoid hitting a pier. The airplane sustained structural damage to the fuselage.
Factual narrative
The pilot was moving his float equipped airplane from his pier to the other side of the lake in order to dock his airplane at his friend’s pier temporarily. He decided to fly it to the other side of the lake instead of performing a water taxi. He departed into the wind. During climbout, he encountered heavy rain showers which obscured his forward visibility out the windshield. He executed a downwind landing to the lake by looking out the side window. He reported that during the landing, he could not slow the airplane down enough to avoid hitting a pier. The airplane sustained structural damage to the fuselage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7482Q
- Reported as
- Cessna C-182
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18261122
- Engine
- Continental O-470, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Walter Hain
- Registered owner
- Walter Hain
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Fox Lake, IL
- Destination
- Fox Lake, IL
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 57
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 1,500 total · 295 in this make and model · 15 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 25 knots, gusting 30
- Temperature
- 75 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 5, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 390 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.