Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Port Townsend, Washington 98363
Thursday, June 1, 2006 8:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was on a company activated visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan over ocean water. The pilot said the weather conditions deteriorated with a lowering ceiling and visibility. He said that the water condition was glassy smooth with no visual definition, and this condition made it increasingly difficult to be sure he was maintaining forward visibility. He began to turn back to better VFR conditions, but conditions worsened; he believed that he inadvertently entered a fog bank. He elected to perform a precautionary landing on the water. He said that with no visual definition, he misjudged his altitude, and landed hard. The airplane's fuselage was bent/deformed, the fuselage skin was wrinkled, and the dorsal stabilizer was bent/wrinkled. At 0655, the weather conditions approximately 14 nautical miles north of the precautionary landing site were: wind calm; visibility 7 statute miles with shallow fog; cloud condition 900 feet scattered, 2,000 feet scattered, 5,000 feet broken and 20,000 feet broken; temperature 55 degrees Fahrenheit; dew point 54 degrees Fahrenheit; altimeter setting 29.95 inches. The pilot reported that at the time of the attempted landing, the visibility was zero, the wind condition was zero, and the ceiling was zero.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudgment of the airplane's height above the water during a precautionary landing which resulted in a hard landing. Contributing factors were glassy water conditions, fog, and the pilot's inadvertent VFR flight into IMC.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/1/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Port Townsend |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98363 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 481149N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1231935W |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Partial Obscuration |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Indefinite (V V) |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20892 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NW ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 1 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2007 9:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N606KA |
| NTSB Number | SEA06LA112 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | de Havilland |
| Aircraft Model | DHC-3T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 37 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 8367 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 11 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 65 |
| Airframe Hours | 10564 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Kenmore Air Harbor, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 82064 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kenmore |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98028 |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | W55 |
| Departure City | Seattle |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 810 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CYWH |
| Destination City | Victoria |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | CA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 9 2006 9:17PM |
| 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 | -- |