Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bryant, Washington 98223
Saturday, November 30, 2002 10:45 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 1,570 hour pilot/builder, along with a 9,000 hour commercial pilot (who had 150 hours experience in the make/model), departed in the homebuilt Seawind 3000 amphibious aircraft on a test flight after a little more than 12 hours of test flying. After approximately 30 minutes witnesses observed the aircraft go from a climb into a descending spiral. One witness reported that he heard the engine quit while others described varying engine sounds characteristic of decaying or intermittent power. One witness observed the aircraft's wings rocking about the longitudinal axis and 3/4 through the third spiral the nose dropped. The aircraft impacted the ground in a near vertical attitude with minimal evidence of horizontal motion through the heavily wooded terrain of the crash site. A post-crash fire consumed most of the aircraft. On site examination found no evidence of mechanical malfunction with the aircraft's controls and an engine disassembly and examination revealed the same findings for the powerplant. Propeller slash marks along the side of one of the trees at the ground impact site suggested a minimum of 1000 RPM an instant before ground impact. The center of gravity was estimated to be within limits at the time of the accident and the stall speed of the aircraft was reported as 64 knots (clean).
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power for undetermined reasons and the failure of the flying pilot to maintain flying speed resulting in an inadvertent stall, loss of control and subsequent collision with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/30/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1045 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Bryant |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98223 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 481629N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1220655W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1035 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 165 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AWO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 137 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.16 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14494 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SEA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 30 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N313FC |
| NTSB Number | SEA03FA015 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Caron |
| Aircraft Model | Seawind |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 057 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 8 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | 16 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Caron, Frederic J. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Cave Junction |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97523 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PAE |
| Departure City | Everett |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1014 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | PAE |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 31 2003 1:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |