- Date
- March 25, 2024, 19:49 local (23:49 UTC)
- Place
- Knoxville, TN · water
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N912GBSouth Central Searey
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: 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
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20240325003039A
- Case key
- 193988
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 retract the landing gear of the amphibious airplane prior to 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 airplane intended to practice water and touch-and-go landings at his home airport and the river that surrounded it. While maneuvering for a water landing, the pilot did not verify the airplane’s landing gear position and landed on the water with the landing gear extended. The airplane nosed over, sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, and came to rest inverted. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N912GB
- Reported as
- South Central Searey
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1MK151
- Built
- 1997
- Airframe hours
- 492
- Engine
- Rotax 912ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · November 27, 2023 · 58 hours before
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- DKX · Knoxville Downtown Island, runway 08, water
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Airframe parachute, Handheld GPS
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
- 45
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Sport Pilot
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Last flight review
- October 22, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 947 total · 185 in this make and model · 793 as pilot in command · 29 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- DKX
- METAR
- KDKX 252335Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 14/02 A2995 RMK A01
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 22, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 409 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.