- Date
- October 20, 2005, 16:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Lake Powell, UT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N7377HCessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 28, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20051020023789A
- Case key
- 62724
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 clearance from terrain during an aborted water takeoff run which resulted in the airplane colliding with a canyon wall. A contributing factor was the submerged object that the airplane struck during the takeoff run.
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
According to the pilot, he was making a water takeoff from a finger of a lake that extended into a narrow canyon. During the takeoff run, he was almost on the step when the right float struck a submerged object. He aborted the takeoff by reducing power. The airplane drifted to the right, and the right wingtip contacted the canyon wall. The airplane pivoted to the right, the right float contacted the canyon wall, and the airplane came to a stop. The right wing sustained structural damage.
Factual narrative
On October 20, 2005, about 1630 mountain daylight time, a Cessna A185F amphibian airplane, N7377H, sustained substantial damage when it impacted a canyon wall during an aborted water takeoff from the surface of Lake Powell, Utah. The private pilot, the sole occupant and registered owner and operator of the airplane, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight was originating when the accident occurred.
According to the pilot, he was making a water takeoff from a finger of the lake that extended into a narrow canyon. During the takeoff run, he was almost on the step when the right float struck a submerged object. He aborted the takeoff by reducing power. The airplane drifted to the right, and the right wingtip contacted the canyon wall. The airplane pivoted to the right, the right float contacted the canyon wall, and the airplane came to a stop. The right wing sustained structural damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7377H
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503382
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-D, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Private Individual
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Lake Powell, UT
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
- 62
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 2,200 total · 176 in this make and model · 57 in the last 90 days · 19 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N7377H · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.