Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Crowley, Louisiana 70546
Saturday, February 28, 2004 7:30 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While landing on a lake, the single-engine amphibian airplane nosed over. The 666-hour pilot reported that he configured the aircraft for a normal approach into the wind for the first of many practice water landings. At approximately 400 feet MSL, he inadvertently selected the landing gear handle, while reaching for the flap handle. The landing gear and the flap handles are two position levers, with the flaps either being full "UP" or full "DOWN", as is the landing gear lever. As he continued the approach and performed the "flow check", the pilot reported that the rising sun created a glare within the cockpit, which prevented verification of the position of the flaps and landing gear. Confirmation of the landing gear position with the external mirrors was also impaired by the sunlight. Upon contact with the water, the airplane "violently" flipped over onto its back. The pilot stated that for the previous three weeks he was unable to practice water landings, due to maintenance on the nose gear doors. During this time, he performed landings on hard surface runways.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadvertant water landing with the landing gear extended. Contributing factors were the sunglare and the pilot's failure to verify the position of the flaps and landing gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/28/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 730 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Crowley |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70546 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 301433N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0924024W |
| 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 | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.3 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15523 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 29 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1121 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2004 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Baton Rouge Flight Standards District Office |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N193TM |
| NTSB Number | FTW04LA086 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Lake |
| Aircraft Model | LA4-270T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 84 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3140 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 74 |
| Airframe Hours | 1569 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Talen's Marine & Fuel Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 1040 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lake Arthur |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70549 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Charles R. Talen |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1216 Pom Roy Road |
| Operator City | Lake Arthur |
| Operator State | LA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 70549 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 3R7 |
| Departure City | Jennings |
| Departure State | LA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 700 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 31 2004 4:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |