- Date
- May 1, 2024, 10:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Belle Chasse, LA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2782LCessna 172H
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Abnormal runway contact
- 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
- Federal Aviation Administration, Baton Rouge FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240501007619A
- Case key
- 194256
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 inadequate landing flare by the flight instructor that resulted in a loss of directional control and impact with terrain.
Findings · 1
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 flight instructor reported that he and a student pilot were returning to the seaplane base after completing the student pilot’s instructional stage check for a commercial single-engine sea rating. During the final approach for landing, the flight instructor noticed the seaplane’s glide path flown by the student pilot was high and would require most of the waterway to land. The flight instructor took control of the seaplane to correct for the high glide path. After the flight instructor corrected the seaplane’s glide path, the seaplane touched down on the waterway, and the flight instructor applied left rudder control to keep the seaplane centered on the waterway. The seaplane continued to the right and struck a sand bank where it nosed over. The seaplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing spar. The flight instructor reported no preaccident failures or malfunctions with the seaplane that would have precluded normal operations. The flight instructor felt that the touch down attitude was flat resulting in an inadvertent water loop.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2782L
- Reported as
- Cessna 172H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17255982
- Built
- 1967
- Airframe hours
- 2,412.7
- Engine
- Teledyne Continental O-300-CCD, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Southern Seaplane, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Southern Seaplane, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 18, 2024
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 65LA · Southern Seaplane Airport, runway 20, 5,000 × 100 ft, water
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Handheld GPS, Stall warning system
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 27
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 9, 2023
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 1,726 total · 583 in this make and model · 1,653 as pilot in command · 128 in the last 90 days · 46 in the last 30 days · 7.3 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- NBG, 3 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 13, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.4 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.