- Date
- August 30, 1995, 16:40 local (23:40 UTC)
- Place
- Spokane, WA
- Injuries
- 2 minor, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N120THCessna 206
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 29, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19950830027119A
- Case key
- 42235
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 airspeed while trying to clear a transmission wire. Factors include a transmission wire near the end of the takeoff area and glassy water.
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 experienced a longer than expected takeoff run because of difficulty getting the aircraft's floats to lift from the glassy water. After becoming airborne, and while he was attempting to clear a transmission wire near the end of the takeoff area, the aircraft stalled/mushed into the terrain.
Factual narrative
On August 30, 1995, approximately 1640 Pacific daylight time (PDT), a float-equipped Cessna 206, N120TH, collided with the terrain just after takeoff from a river near Spokane, Washington. The private pilot and the front seat passenger received minor injuries, both rear seat passengers were uninjured, and the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The personal pleasure flight, which was departing the Spokane River for Flathead Lake, Montana, was being operated in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation.
According to the FAA inspector who interviewed the pilot at the scene of the accident, the pilot had trouble getting the floats to lift from the glassy water, and therefore experienced a longer than expected takeoff run. After getting airborne, he attempted to clear some power lines in the aircraft's path. During this sequence, the aircraft stalled and impacted the rocky shoreline of the river.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N120TH
- Reported as
- Cessna 206
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- U2060537
- Airframe hours
- 5,280
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-RCO, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Brooks, Ken B.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 5, 1995 · 60 hours before
- Departed
- WA
- Destination
- Flathead Lake, MT
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
- 27
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 162 total · 40 in this make and model · 96 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 29 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.