- Date
- October 11, 2014, 13:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Coloma, MI
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N180CTCessna 180B
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 5, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- FAA report
- 20141011021539A
- Case key
- 90270
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 did not use the departure checklist, resulting in an inadvertent landing with the pontoon wheels extended.
Findings · 4
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 departed a land-based airport and flew to a nearby lake. Being a short and direct flight, the pilot said he did not use the departure checklist and forgot to retract the wheels on the pontoons. Immediately upon touching down in the water, the airplane nosed over. Post-accident examination revealed the firewall had been buckled by impact. There were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane or its systems that would have precluded normal operations.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot's written statement, he departed a land-based airport and flew to a nearby lake. Being a short and direct flight, he did not use the departure checklist and forgot to retract the wheels on the pontoons. Immediately upon touching down in the water, the airplane nosed over. Post-accident examination revealed the firewall had been buckled by impact. There were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane or its systems that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N180CT
- Reported as
- Cessna 180B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 50632
- Built
- 1959
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-470 SERIES, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Performance Paradise LLC
- Registered owner
- Performance Paradise LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- KBEH · Benton Harbor, MI
- Destination
- NONE · Coloma, MI
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
- 45
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 2,450 total · 350 in this make and model · 30 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.26 inHg
- Observed at
- KBEH, 9 nm away
Docket · 8
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 12, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.1 MB 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.