- Date
- September 6, 2025, 09:20 local (13:20 UTC)
- Place
- Beaver Cove, ME
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N402EGrumman G-44A
- Defining event
- Maneuvering: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 18, 2025
- 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
- 20250906012629A
- Case key
- 200978
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 distraction and failure to monitor the airplane’s flight path, which resulted in controlled flight into a lake.
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
After performing a flyby of nearby event, the pilot of the vintage amphibious airplane flew the airplane out over a lake near the seabase. While maneuvering, he attempted to contact people on the ground utilizing the common traffic advisory frequency he had heard people using earlier in the week. After failing to reach anyone, the pilot set the flight controls for a slow descent. Then he used his mobile phone to send a text message asking a friend for the radio frequency in use, and upon reply, changed the frequency. After setting the phone down, the pilot looked up as the airplane impacted the surface of the lake. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the front fuselage and hull, left wing, and both sponsons. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N402E
- Reported as
- Grumman G-44A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1444
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 9,298
- Engines
- Lycoming GO-435, 260 horsepower, reciprocatingLycoming GO-435, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Lost In Time LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 30, 2024
- Departed
- 3B1 · Greenville, ME
- Airport
- 3B1 · Greenville Muni
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Electronic multifunction display
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 76
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 12, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 5,750 total · 2,070 in this make and model · 44 in the last 90 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.97 inHg
- Observed at
- GNR, 12 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KGNR 061356Z AUTO VRB04KT 19/16 A2997 RMK AO1 SLP147 T01890161
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 18, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 14.5 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.