Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Belliigham, Washington 98229
Friday, April 2, 2004 12:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Not long into the flight the left engine began running rough. After adjusting the engine controls the engine smoothed out, but then began running rough again, prompting the pilot to proceed to his home base. Approaching his destination and observing that he could only get 1900 rpm out of the right propeller after advancing the throttle to 28.5 inches of manifold pressure, the pilot elected to proceed to a nearby airport. However, due to a radio communication failure and inability to maintain sufficient altitude to clear terrain bordering the airport, the pilot decided to make a water landing on the 20 square-mile bay adjoining the airport. Not realizing the tide was out and that the water was only about 6 inches deep, the pilot landed approximately 600 to 650 feet paralled to the shoreline. Subsequently, the right wing float impacted subsurface terrain, collapsing the float aft in compression and pivoting the float aft and up, substantially damaging the right aileron and four wing ribs. A post accident examination of the right engine and propeller revealed the propeller's oil control valve had developed a leak, which resulted in a lack of engine oil to the propeller. No definitive reason for the leak had been determined. Examination of the rough running left engine failed to reveal any anomalies which would preclude normal operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the pilot to select the proper touchdown point while conducting a forced landing. Factors included the #1 engine malfunction, the right propeller oil control valve leak, and the shallow subsurface terrain condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/2/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Belliigham |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98229 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 484639N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1223141W |
| 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 | Partial - limited by pilot |
| 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 | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.4 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16196 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Seattle Regional Operations Ce |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 2 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1245 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 1 2004 7:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, Washington |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N65914 |
| NTSB Number | SEA04LA064 |
| 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 | Grumman |
| Aircraft Model | G-44 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1385 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4525 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 18 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2.7 |
| Airframe Hours | 2232.7 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lane E. Older |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Bellingham |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98229 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 0W7 |
| Departure City | Lake Whatcom |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1158 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | OW7 |
| Destination City | Lake Whatcom |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 22 2004 6:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |