Cessna T337E N1711M

Summary

On 29 March 2005 at about 20:25 local time, a Cessna T337E registered N1711M was involved in an accident near Orcas Island, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

29 March 2005 at 20:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Orcas Island, Washington, United States

Coordinates

48.6536, -122.7453

Aircraft

Cessna T337E

Registration

N1711M

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Blakely Island → Bellingham

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA05LA068

1 person died.

The loss of power for undetermined reasons which resulted in a forced landing and impact with water.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Approximately 2 minutes after taking off the passenger noted that one of the engines began to run rough, followed by the second engine losing power after the pilot attempted to switch the fuel selector. The airplane subsequently impacted the water, blowing out the cabin windows. The passenger successfully exited the airplane, and then aided the pilot in getting out of the aircraft and up on to the wing. After about 30 minutes the airplane began to sink in about 200 feet of water, which prompted the passenger to begin swimming to shore, a distance of approximately one-half mile. The passenger attempted to get the pilot to swim to shore, which he did, but after a short period of time the pilot communicated to his passenger that he could not continue. The passenger was subsequently rescued; however, the pilot did not survive and was recovered a short time later. The day prior to the accident the pilot had picked up the airplane from a repair facility, flying three 20 mile legs between the repair facility, to his home, back to the repair facility, and then back to his home again, shuttling his family and their luggage. After arriving at his home base a family member queried him as to how he felt about the airplane, to which the pilot responded, "fine." The pilot did not report any anomalies with the airplane or engines prior to the flight which would have precluded normal operations. An attempt to locate and recover the airplane was not successful.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.