Cessna A185E N1972U

Summary

On 1 July 2006 at about 14:53 local time, a Cessna A185E registered N1972U was involved in an accident near Clear Lake, Minnesota, 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

1 July 2006 at 14:53

Classification

Accident

Location

Clear Lake, Minnesota, United States

Nearest airport

Leaders/Clear Lake (8Y6)

Coordinates

45.4444, -93.9711

Aircraft

Cessna A185E

Registration

N1972U

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Prior Lake → Clear Lake

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI06LA175

1 person died.

The pilot's misjudged flare that resulted in a hard landing and subsequent nose over. A factor to the accident was the grass runway that the forward landing gear dug into during the hard landing, resulting in the amphibian airplane nosing over.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The amphibian airplane nosed over during landing on a turf runway. The pilot stated that during the landing the airplane initially touched down on the main landing gear, while he held the forward landing gear off the ground. The pilot reported that when the forward landing gear touched down the airplane "flipped onto its back." First responders reported that they found the airplane upside down, facing north. Local authorities reported that the airplane was located in the grass area prior to the gravel and asphalt sections of the runway. There were two distinct ground scars leading up to the main wreckage. The width between the two ground scars was consistent with the width between the airplane's two floats. Relative to the runway direction, the right and left ground scars were 103 and 92 feet long, respectively. An automated weather observation system located 7.2 nautical miles northwest of the airport, reported the winds were from 270 at 9 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.