CEN23FA257

During a local personal sightseeing flight, the pilot was maneuvering the airplane to see a lighthouse on a remote island. Although he reported that he had good visibility and that the water was flat, the airplane inadvertently impacted the surface of the lake. The pilot regained consciousness in the water but had no recollection of the accident. The airplane was submerged in 20 ft of water. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that both wings, the floats, and the lower fuselage exhibited significant aft crush damage consistent with a nose low, left-wing low impact with the water. An examination of the engine and airframe revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operations. According to a surface observation about 6 miles southeast of the accident site, visual meteorological conditions prevailed. Satellite imagery for the accident site indicated cloud cover and lower visibility over most of the lake due to wildfire smoke. The first responders reported that about 15 minutes after the accident there was a lack of contrast on the horizon with smoke, haze, and calm seas, with no discernable horizon visible. The pilot of a rescue helicopter that arrived at the accident site about 30 minutes after the accident confirmed that the smoke and haze, combined with no wind and very calm water, made it impossible to determine where the sky and water met. There was no record that the pilot obtained a weather briefing before the flight. Given the condition of the airplane and the visibility conditions at the time of the accident, it is likely that the pilot was not able to discern between the water and the horizon due to the smoke, haze, and the calm waters which resulted in the inadvertent descent into the water.

Airplane logbooks were not made available to investigators for review. According to the pilot, the last annual inspection of the airframe, engine, and propeller occurred on May 10, 2023, at a total time of 1,474 hours, and the engine had accumulated 575 hours since overhaul. The airplane was equipped with a turn coordinator and had no other instruments that displayed attitude information. Investigators noted a handheld device mount located on the instrument panel, which, according to the pilot, contained a cell phone that displayed a moving map. The cell phone was not located during the recovery of the airplane. On June 23, 2023, about 0844 eastern daylight time, an Avid Magnum airplane, N103DG, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Beaver Island, Michigan. The pilot sustained minor injuries. The passenger was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that he was on a local sightseeing flight at the time of the accident. The pilot was maneuvering the airplane to see a lighthouse on a remote island when the airplane inadvertently impacted the surface of Lake Michigan about 3.25 miles northwest of the Beaver Island shoreline. After regaining consciousness, the pilot self-extricated himself from the wreckage and attempted to remove the passenger from the wreckage but was unable to do so. The pilot then climbed on a piece of the floating wreckage and activated the SOS function of his Garmin inReach satellite communicator. The SOS alert was received by the Garmin International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC), which promptly relayed the distress message and last known coordinates to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). The U.S. Coast Guard responded to the SOS message from the pilot’s satellite communicator about 0909, and they arrived on scene about 30 minutes later. The airplane was found in about 20 ft of water with the pilot sitting on a singular float above the waterline. During the rescue operation, the USCG pilot reported that smoke and haze combined with no wind and very calm seas made it impossible to determine where the sky and water met, resulting in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The first responders to the accident site reported that, about 15 minutes after the accident, there was a lack of contrast on the horizon, with smoke, haze, and calm seas and no discernable horizon. Surface observations from the Beaver Island Airport (SJX), located about 6 miles southeast of the accident site, indicated visual flight rules (VFR) conditions with clear skies, visibility greater than 10 statute miles, and light winds. Upper air soundings showed a stable atmosphere with a surface-based inversion up to 2,000 ft above ground level (agl) and no clouds or icing below 10,000 ft agl. No convective or non-convective SIGMETs, AIRMETs, or Center Weather Advisories (CWAs) were active at the time of the accident, and no terminalaerodrome forecasts (TAFs) were issued within 30 miles of the site. Despite the VFR surface conditions, satellite imagery from the GOES-16 platform indicated cloud cover and other obscurations over and around the accident area at the time of the accident, with cloud tops estimated near 8,000 feet mean sea level. Additionally, High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) smoke model data indicated concentrations of wildfire smoke between 12 and 60 µg/m³ through 6,000 feet agl over the accident site, with reduced surface visibilities below one mile across much of Lake Michigan. There were no radar returns indicating precipitation over the area. The accident pilot did not request a formal weather briefing from flight services, and although the pilot had an active ForeFlight account and had entered routes in the application, no weather data or briefings were retrieved on the day of the flight. The pilot’s logbook was not made available for investigators to review. The airplane was located in Lake Michigan, about 3.25 miles northwest of the Beaver Island shoreline. The airplane came to rest in about 20 feet of water. The floats were separated and recovered about 250 yards from the main wreckage. The wreckage was recovered to a hangar on Beaver Island for examination. The fuselage exhibited localized deformation but remained largely intact. Both wings remained attached at the roots; the left wing was displaced aft with torn fabric and rib damage, while the right wing was displaced forward with minor strut deformation. The left flaperon was separated and not recovered, and the right flaperon was damaged with signatures consistent with overload. Control continuity was confirmed from the cockpit to all flight controls. The engine remained attached to the airframe with a fracture noted near the upper right engine mount. Internal mechanical continuity and compression were confirmed during hand rotation, and the ignition system produced spark on all leads. The carburetor was intact with no fuel or air induction blockages noted, and the oil filter was free of debris. No anomalies were observed during a borescope inspection of the cylinders. The propeller remained attached to the crankshaft flange. One blade was bent forward and partially fractured near the tip; the other exhibited leading-edge gouges and chordwise scratches, consistent with rotation under power at impact. The floats had separated from the fuselage and exhibited deformation and fragmentation consistent with impact forces. Overall, the wreckage displayed damage signatures consistent with a nose-low, forward impact with water. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation