Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Allegheny River Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Freeport, Pennsylvania 16229
Saturday, May 26, 2007 9:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the homebuilt Searey amphibious airplane had completed one uneventful landing on a river. The pilot stated that during his second landing, because of the glassy water conditions, he stayed close to the shoreline to better judge the water elevation, and utilized glassy water landing techniques. He further stated that he did not manipulate the landing gear handle after the first landing, and verified that the gear was up prior to the second landing. During touchdown, the airplane nosed over, and partially sank. The windshield fractured, and the airframe was substantially damaged. Examination of the airplane, which included the landing gear system, did not reveal any pre-impact failures. The pilot reported 689 hours of total flight experience, which included 65 hours in the same make and model as the accident airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper flare, which resulted in a nose over while attempting to land on a river. A factor in this accident was the glassy water landing conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/26/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Freeport |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 16229 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 404214N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0793522W |
| Event Location Airport | Allegheny River |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NONE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 935 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 105 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BTP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1248 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| 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) | 30.26 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21827 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern Region Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 29 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 25 2007 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA/FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4801W |
| NTSB Number | NYC07CA127 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Wroblewski |
| Aircraft Model | Searey |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1DK248 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 58 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | William A. Wroblewski |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ford City |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 16226 |
| 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 | P37 |
| Departure City | Freeport |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | P37 |
| Destination City | Freeport |
| Destination State | PA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 27 2007 8:27AM |
| User who most recently changed record | ANDJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 250 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |