- Date
- December 20, 2025, 17:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Hawthorne, FL · Redwater Lake
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N656BAviat A-1C-200
- Defining event
- Landing: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 21, 2026
- 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
- 20251220019159A
- Case key
- 202199
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 an appropriate descent rate for a glassy water landing, which resulted in a hard 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 purpose of the flight was for the pilot to depart from a paved airport in the amphibious airplane and fly to a nearby lake and land. The pilot overflew the lake and noticed the water appeared to be “glassy” in sections. During touchdown, the airplane landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to its wings and fuselage. The airplane came to rest, partially submerged, in the lake. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N656B
- Reported as
- Aviat A-1C-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3199
- Built
- 2013
- Airframe hours
- 354.8
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A1D6, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hoffman Aircraft Sales Corp
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 21, 2025 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- FD04 · Ocala, FL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- N/A
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Electronic multifunction display, Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- BasicMed, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 27, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 3,238 total · 51.7 in this make and model · 3,109 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 2.7 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- GNV, 15 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KGNV 202153Z 11005KT 10SM CLR 21/05 A3015 RMK AO2 SLP211 T02060050
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 21, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 38.8 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.