- Date
- April 6, 2018, 13:21 local (17:21 UTC)
- Place
- Welaka, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N124ALSasser Allen L Searey
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 24, 2018
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20180406010479A
- Case key
- 97027
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 incorrect pitch input during a water landing, which resulted in a nose-over. Contributing to the accident were the pilot’s inadequate training and experience in the make and model airplane.
Findings · 4
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
According to the pilot in the experimental, amateur-built, amphibious airplane, during a water landing he "decided that the nose was slightly high." He applied forward pressure on the control stick, the nose pitched down, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward right-wing lift strut and windshield. The pilot noted that he had accumulated 3.8 hours of flight time in the accident airplane make and model. He asserted that more pilot training in the airplane make and model could have prevented the accident. The pilot held a Federal Aviation Administration private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating. He did not possess an airplane single-engine sea rating. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot in the experimental amateur-build amphibious airplane, during a water landing he, "decided that the nose was slightly high." He applied forward pressure on the control stick, the nose pitched down, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward right-wing lift strut and windshield. Per the National Transportation Safety Board Pilot Aircraft Accident Report, the pilot noted that he had accumulated 3.8 hours of flight time in the accident airplane make and model. He asserted that more pilot training in the airplane make and model could have prevented the accident. The pilot held a Federal Aviation Administration Private Pilot certificate with an airplane single engine land rating. He did not possess an airplane single engine sea rating. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N124AL
- Reported as
- Sasser Allen L Searey (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1DK204
- Built
- 2017
- Airframe hours
- 6.9
- Engine
- Rotax 912, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · September 24, 2017
- Departed
- Palatka, FL
- Destination
- Palatka, FL
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
- 63
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 17, 2017
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 306.2 total · 3.7 in this make and model · 276.5 as pilot in command · 12.1 in the last 90 days · 5.9 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- KDED, 28 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 4, 2018, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.4 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.