Lane Progressive Aerodyne SEAREY N26RL

Summary

On 4 July 1998 at about 22:45 local time, a Lane Progressive Aerodyne SEAREY registered N26RL was involved in an accident near Windermere, Florida, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 July 1998 at 22:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Windermere, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Lake Down (NONE)

Coordinates

28.4904, -81.5293

Aircraft

Lane Progressive Aerodyne SEAREY

Registration

N26RL

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL98LA093

1 person was seriously injured.

The inadequate design of the landing gear switch by the builder which allowed an inadvertent activation of the landing gear switch, leading to a gear extension during a water landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated he completed the landing checklist which included checking for a gear up light and visually ensuring the gear was up. According to the pilot, after touchdown, the seaplane violently dove under the water. According to a witness, the seaplane touched down, skipped on the water, and then nose dived under water. The witness also stated that during the landing, the gear was up. During the rescue, he stated the gear was down. The FAA inspector stated he found the right main landing gear was in a position halfway between up and down, and rotated rearward. The left main gear was in a down and locked position. Examination of the landing gear extension/retraction system did not reveal any abnormalities. The pilot stated that the landing gear switch was designed so a closed guard, where the guard points down, indicated down and locked gear. In order to put the gear down, one could simply touch the guard because it is spring loaded to a down position. The pilot believed that the bouncing on landing could have caused the guard to close.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.