- Date
- October 8, 2024, 14:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Inguadona, MN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N212FBAir Tractor AT-802A
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear not configured
- 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
- FAA MSP FSDO
- FAA report
- 20241008015699A
- Case key
- 195281
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 properly configure the landing gear on the amphibious airplane before a water 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 of the amphibious firefighting airplane departed from a land-based airport with a hard surface runway. The pilot reported that he was distracted during the initial climb by another airplane flying towards him on what looked like a low approach. According to the pilot this disrupted his callout flow, and he did not retract the landing gear. The flight was part of a training event, and the pilot was supposed to scoop water at a lake northwest of the scene of a mock fire. When he arrived at the intended lake another firefighting airplane had just scooped water and advised him to use a south to north scoop line. The pilot stated that he did his pre-scoop checklist, putting his hand on the landing gear lever and verbalizing “handle forward, four blue for the water,” as he was watching the other airplane. He said it did not register that the landing gear lever was aft and not forward or that there were four green lights instead of four blue. When the airplane landed it decelerated quickly and nosed over before settling upright, which resulted in substantial damage to the wings. The pilot egressed the airplane without incident and saw the floats had separated from the airplane and that the landing gear were extended. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N212FB
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT-802A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 802A-0368
- Built
- 2010
- Airframe hours
- 1,861.6
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney PT6-67F, 1,600 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Firefighting · Part 137
- Operator
- Aero Spray Inc, doing business as Dauntless Air
- Registered owner
- Aero Spray Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 22, 2024 · 429.6 hours before
- Departed
- KBRD · Brainerd, MN
- Destination
- KBRD · Brainerd, MN
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, Onboard weather, Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Satellite tracking device, 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 56
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 10, 2024
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 11,650 total · 680 in this make and model · 10,900 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- KXVG, 4 nm away
- METAR
- KXVG 081753Z AUTO 17003KT 10SM CLR 17/01 A3006 RMK AO2
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.0 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.