- Date
- August 26, 1984, 14:33 local (19:33 UTC)
- Place
- Lake Delton, WI
- Injuries
- 4 fatal, 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N61584Cessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840826043319A
- Case key
- 12424
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The float plane crashed shortly after taking off from Lake Delton while of a sight-seeing flt. The acft was used daily during the tourist season on flts of aprx 15 min long. This was the 8th or 9th flt of the day & was the 4th or 5th flt since refueling. A passenger & svrl witnesses on the ground thought that the eng had lost power. A post crash exam of the eng did not reveal any specific reason for the loss of power. The survivors of the crash both agreed that the acft was over land when a sharp left turn was made back toward the water. During this turn, the acft struck trees & crashed aprx 40 ft from the shoreline. An autopsy & toxicological tests of the plt failed to reveal any inflight incapacitation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N61584
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18504233
- Airframe hours
- 1,277
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Velma And Patrick Medo, Dells
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 6, 1984 · 283 hours before
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
- 26
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,442 total · 1,233 as pilot in command · 255 in the last 90 days · 122 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MSN, 34 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.