- Date
- August 17, 2020, 18:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- League City, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N502BKProgressive Aerodyne Searey
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Houston FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200817013199A
- Case key
- 101817
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 failure to maintain airplane control during a water takeoff after an encounter with the wake from a boat.
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 of the amphibious airplane reported that he had made a landing on the lake surface and then performed a step-taxi into the wind. He then applied full power to takeoff and the airplane hit a wave from a passing boat. When the airplane struck the second wave from the boat, the front of the airplane went under water. The nose of the airplane was ripped off. With the engine still running, the airplane nosed over and filled with water. In his report the pilot noted that he had not set the airplane's trim properly and he failed to apply back pressure on the controls when he hit the boat wake. He also noted that there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N502BK
- Reported as
- Progressive Aerodyne Searey (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1DK247
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 494
- Engine
- Rotax 912ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · June 16, 2020 · 18 hours before
- Departed
- League City, TX
- Destination
- T41 · La Porte, TX
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, ADS-B
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
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Sport pilot, Unknown
- Last flight review
- January 26, 2019
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,591 total · 24 in this make and model · 2,403 as pilot in command · 24 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 84 °F
- Observed at
- T41
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 9, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.0 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.