- Date
- August 16, 2024, 07:30 local (12:30 UTC)
- Place
- Mobile, AL · Mobile Bay
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N2342DSmith T Gunter Quick Silver SP II
- Defining event
- Approach: Loss of control in flight
- 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
- 20240816015259A
- Case key
- 194943
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 maintain control of the airplane in gusty wind conditions while flying low over water, which resulted in the floats impacting a wave and the airplane’s subsequent nose over into the water.
Findings · 2
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
At the conclusion of the sightseeing and bird watching flight, the pilot reported he was flying low in preparation for a water landing in gusty wind conditions. While flying about 6 ft over the water surface, a wind gust subsided, and the airplane sank and began to stall. The front of the floats then impacted a small wave, resulting in the airplane nosing over into the water. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and the right wing. The pilot reported there were no preimpact anomalies or mechanical failures that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2342D
- Reported as
- Smith T Gunter Quick Silver SP II
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 0511
- Built
- 1995
- Airframe hours
- 312
- Engine
- Rotax 503, 53 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 15, 2024 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- Mobile, AL
- Equipment
- None
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
- 78
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Sport pilot, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 2,200 total · 600 in this make and model · 2,200 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 77 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Turbulence
- Moderate
- Observed at
- BFM, 5 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KBFM 161253Z 08006KT 10SM SCT023 BKN095 29/25 A3005 RMK AO2 SLP176 T02940250=
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 19, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.6 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.