WPR18LA151

On May 27, 2018, about 1705 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 150M airplane, N6AF, was substantially damaged when it impacted water near Bainbridge Island, Washington. The private pilot was fatally injured, and the passenger was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to the passenger, before departure from Harvey Field Airport (S43), Snohomish, Washington, the pilot used his iPad for navigation via the ForeFlight application. They took off and landed at Vashon Island, Washington. After takeoff from Vashon Island, while flying over the water, the passenger told the pilot that she thought the airplane was too low. The pilot replied that they were fine and that they were able to fly safely 200 ft above the water. The passenger stated that the pilot looked down at the iPad and she saw him push the flight control yoke forward. The airplane subsequently impacted the water and flipped over. The passenger reported that she blacked out for a short time. When she regained consciousness, she saw the pilot still restrained by his seat belt and slumped over; he appeared to be unconscious. The passenger was able to egress on her own as the airplane began to sink. The passenger reported that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane before the impact. An individual on a boat in the area of the accident site saw the splash of water when the airplane impacted the water, marked the location via a GPS device, and rescued the passenger. A witness on the shore was looking out toward the water when she saw a low-flying airplane. The airplane came into view and was descending in a nose-low attitude. She initially thought it was going to skim the water and perform a loop, but the airplane continued its descent until it impacted the water. The airplane flipped over and quickly sank. Radar data captured the airplane as it departed to the south from Vashon Island, then turned northbound over the waterway on the west side of Vashon Island. The flight continued north over the water at an altitude of about 700 ft mean sea level (msl) until radar contact was lost about 0.1 nautical mile from the accident site. Search efforts on the day of the accident were unsuccessful in locating the wreckage. On June 14, an independent dive team located the wreckage inverted on the sea floor at a depth of 176 ft below the surface. The airplane was not recovered at that time. When the dive team returned to recover the wreckage, it was no longer at that location and could not be located again. The pilot's remains were not recovered.