- Date
- June 19, 1998, 10:00 local (14:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lake Tarpon, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6277KProgressive Aerodyne Stingray
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 8, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980619014919A
- Case key
- 38536
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 insure that the landing gear was in the up-and-locked position prior to the water landing.
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 pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings at Lake Tarpon. During the approach for the second touch-and-go, he checked the landing gear handle to insure that it was in the up position, but could not remember the position of the landing gear lock before or after touchdown. Upon landing, the landing gear was unlocked, the airplane nosed down in the water momentarily, and came to rest in an upright position. Examination of the landing gear revealed no evidence of a mechanical failure or malfunction.
Factual narrative
On June 19, 1998, about 1000 eastern daylight time, a homebuilt Progressive Stingray amphibious aircraft, N6277K, registered to a private individual, operated as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed on landing at Lake Tarpon, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged, and the commercial-rated pilot was not injured. The flight originated from Lake Tarpon about 10 minutes before the accident.
The pilot stated that he was conducting touch-and-go landings on the lake, and during the second approach, he checked the landing gear handle to insure that it was in the up position, but he could not remember the position of the landing gear lock before or after touchdown. The airplane was landed with the gear unlocked, then nosed down in the water momentarily, and came to rest in an upright position.
Examination of the landing gear by an FAA inspector revealed that the landing gear mechanical linkage was intact. All rods and linkages were connected and secured.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6277K
- Reported as
- Progressive Aerodyne Stingray
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 20K006
- Airframe hours
- 26
- Engine
- Rotax 4401101, 80 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Robert Roosen
- Registered owner
- Rodrigo Gomez
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 26, 1998 · 6 hours before
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
- 71
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,915 total · 4 in this make and model · 1,807 as pilot in command · 14 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 97 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TPA, 13 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.