Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sunapee, New Hampshire 03782
Thursday, August 21, 2008 12:50 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The non-certificated pilot departed a hard-surfaced runway for a flight to, and landing on, a lake approximately 10 miles away. According to the pilot, about 10 minutes into the flight he cycled the landing gear to the retracted position. He then observed that the wing flap position differed from that displayed on the cockpit indicator. While on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern for landing, he deployed the flaps to an estimated position of 10 degrees, and on the base leg, he attempted to position them to the landing setting of 20 degrees. When the airplane touched down on the lake, it stopped abruptly, and partially submerged. The impact resulted in a serious injury to the pilot, and substantial damage to the airplane. According to the pilot, he did not realize that the landing gear was extended for the water landing, and he did not select or command the extended position. Postaccident information provided by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the landing gear was in the extended and locked position, and the landing gear controls were in the corresponding position. According to the designer of the airplane, two separate controls must both be activated to extend or retract the landing gear; no single action can cause the landing gear to extend, and the gear cannot free-fall to the extended and locked position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to ensure that the landing gear was retracted for the water landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/21/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1250 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sunapee |
| Event State | NEW HAMPSHIRE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 03782 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 432306N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0720448W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1254 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VSF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 577 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.28 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24856 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NEROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2008 7:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | muzd |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N204PB |
| NTSB Number | NYC08CA285 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Haines |
| Aircraft Model | Searey |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 211 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1450 |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Dexter D Coffin |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | West Palm Beach |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33411 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Dexter D Coffin |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | west Palm Beach |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 33411 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | 2B3 |
| Departure City | Newport |
| Departure State | NH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1235 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | Sunapee |
| Destination State | NH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2008 7:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | muzd |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |