Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Surfside Seaplane Base Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lino Lakes, Minnesota 55038
Saturday, June 21, 1997 13:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The owner/pilot had just purchased the airplane, and was seeking instruction in the aircraft to fulfill his insurance requirements. He referenced the Pilot's Operating Handbook and noted to the CFI that the configuration for takeoffs in water was with 35 degrees of flaps. The CFI responded that only 15 degrees of flaps were needed. The owner reported, 'during the takeoff run it seemed to me that we had difficulty getting on a good step situation.' The owner further said, 'at the point where an aborted takeoff should have been executed, I saw him [CFI] reach for what I was certain would be the power and an aborted takeoff. Instead, he [CFI] reached for the flap handle and put the flaps at 35 degrees and horsed back on the controls so that the nose did come up, but there was no way we could avoid hitting the shore which was covered with bull bushes.' The airplane contacted the high grasses, nosed over, and came to rest inverted 150 feet from the shoreline. The CFI reported, 'I was a little too late in aborting the takeoff.' The seaplane base operator reported that the CFI elected to use a shortened portion of the lake for the takeoff run, and could have extended the takeoff run by a half a mile by changing the takeoff heading by ten degrees.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the flight instructor's inadequate preflight planning/preparation, his the improper lowering of flaps for takeoff, his failure to use a longer available area for takeoff, and his failure to abort the takeoff before there was an insufficient amount of area remaining to abort. The encounter with high vegetation was a related factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/21/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | LINO LAKES |
| Event State | MINNESOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 55038 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | SURFSIDE SEAPLANE BASE |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 8Y4 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 910 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 40 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ANE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 912 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2817 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 319 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 21 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1646 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 14 2003 9:50AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5643Y |
| NTSB Number | CHI97LA176 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Maule |
| Aircraft Model | M5C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | M5C |
| Aircraft Serial Number | A7367C |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 9 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GEORGE JOHNSON |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 311 SPRING LAKE RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | PRIOR LAKE |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 55372 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 8Y4 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 14 2003 9:50AM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOHB |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 9 |
| Runway Length | 2500 |
| Runway Width | 0 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |