Caron SEAWIND N313FC

Summary

On 30 November 2002 at about 18:45 local time, a Caron SEAWIND registered N313FC was involved in an accident near Bryant, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 November 2002 at 18:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Bryant, Washington, United States

Coordinates

48.2747, -122.1153

Aircraft

Caron SEAWIND

Registration

N313FC

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Flight Test

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Everett → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA03FA015

2 people died.

A loss of engine power for undetermined reasons and the failure of the flying pilot to maintain flying speed resulting in an inadvertent stall, loss of control and subsequent collision with terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The 1,570 hour pilot/builder, along with a 9,000 hour commercial pilot (who had 150 hours experience in the make/model), departed in the homebuilt Seawind 3000 amphibious aircraft on a test flight after a little more than 12 hours of test flying. After approximately 30 minutes witnesses observed the aircraft go from a climb into a descending spiral. One witness reported that he heard the engine quit while others described varying engine sounds characteristic of decaying or intermittent power. One witness observed the aircraft's wings rocking about the longitudinal axis and 3/4 through the third spiral the nose dropped. The aircraft impacted the ground in a near vertical attitude with minimal evidence of horizontal motion through the heavily wooded terrain of the crash site. A post-crash fire consumed most of the aircraft. On site examination found no evidence of mechanical malfunction with the aircraft's controls and an engine disassembly and examination revealed the same findings for the powerplant. Propeller slash marks along the side of one of the trees at the ground impact site suggested a minimum of 1000 RPM an instant before ground impact. The center of gravity was estimated to be within limits at the time of the accident and the stall speed of the aircraft was reported as 64 knots (clean).

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.