- Date
- November 4, 1983, 18:00 local (Nov 5, 1983, 00:00 UTC)
- Place
- Freemason Is., LA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 3 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N61394Cessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19831104056629A
- Case key
- 21196
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The acft was on the return leg of a fishing trip at night. According to the plt, the float plane lifted off after a fairly long run on smooth water. He stated that at 200 ft AGL & 90 KTS, he initiated a 10 to 15 deg right turn & rolled out on a heading of 350 deg. At about that time, the acft collided with the water. The plt did not hear or feel anything unusual before impact & he did not feel the acft descend. After crashing, the acft sank in aprx 15 ft of water. The passenger in the right front seat was not found after the accident & was presumed to have drowned. The plt stated that he & the right front seat passenger were not wearing their seat belts. However, the 2 talked to one another in the air pocket within the acft before exiting & the passenger did not mention any injury at that time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N61394
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18504171
- Airframe hours
- 935
- Engine
- Continental IO-540-D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Russell D. Fagan
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 1983 · 78 hours before
- Destination
- GPT · Gulfport, MS
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
- 36
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,614 total · 26 in this make and model · 7,421 as pilot in command · 114 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 280° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.