Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Lake Havasu City Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Havasu Lake, California 92363
Monday, July 10, 2006 17:24 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The amphibious airplane was destroyed in a ground fire following a forced landing. During the takeoff initial climb out, electrical fumes and smoke emanated from the right side portion of the instrument panel. A successful water landing was made; however, a post impact fire consumed the airplane. Examination of the airplane revealed that it was equipped with two batteries that were interconnected with each other and positioned in the right side nose/storage compartment area. Both batteries' cables were connected to a single MASTER solenoid and a single START solenoid. A burn mark was located in the battery compartment that was the size and position of the negative cable for the right side battery. The storage area for the batteries was not damaged; however, the cockpit was consumed in the post impact fire. Further inspection of the airplane's electrical wiring revealed that the groundside of the forward battery had been wired to the hot side of the START solenoid that resulted in a reverse polarity draw during engine start. The protective covering for the wires burned away exposing the wires that then came into contact with each other and started the fire. Recent maintenance work on the airplane included movement of both batteries to the right side, and a rewire of the cables to the MASTER and START solenoids.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an electrical fire due to improper wiring of the electrical system by other maintenance personnel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/10/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1724 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Havasu Lake |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92363 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 343313N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1142359W |
| Event Location Airport | LAKE HAVASU CITY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HII |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 800 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1656 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 315 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EED |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 916 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 44 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.66 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22387 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 10 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2007 8:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RAL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8025Q |
| NTSB Number | LAX06LA228 |
| 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 and In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Palmer |
| Aircraft Model | Seawind 3000 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 025 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 100 |
| Airframe Hours | 190 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert L. Hemme |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Murrieta |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92563 |
| 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 | HII |
| Departure City | Lake Havasu Cit |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1700 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | F70 |
| Destination City | Murrieta/Temecu |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 4 2007 5:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |