- Date
- February 25, 2025, 15:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Smithville, TN
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N459BAIcon A5
- 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
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/ FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250225003009A
- Case key
- 199802
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 prior to landing in water. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to use the manufacturer’s provided checklist.
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
After fueling the airplane at a nearby airport, the pilot was returning to his home lake to perform a water landing. During the landing, the landing gear were still configured in the extended position. The landing gear contacted the water and the airplane nosed down into the water. The airplane subsequently submerged in the water and sank. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The pilot reported there were no mechanical failures or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the landing gear had no abnormalities that prevented normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N459BA
- Reported as
- Icon A5
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 00070
- Built
- 2018
- Airframe hours
- 281
- Engine
- Rotax 912 iSc2, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Special light-sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 15, 2025 · 30 hours before
- Departed
- 0A5 · Smithville, TN
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 0A3 · Smithville Muni
- Equipment
- Airframe parachute, ADS-B, Angle of attack indicator
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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 76
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 90 total · 68 in this make and model · 14 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.87 inHg
- Observed at
- SRB, 13 nm away
- METAR
- KSRB 252155Z AUTO 28007G14KT 250V310 10SM CLR 20/01 A2987 RMK A01
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 17, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.1 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.