Haines SEAREY N204PB

Summary

On 21 August 2008 at about 16:50 local time, a Haines SEAREY registered N204PB was involved in an accident near Sunapee, New Hampshire, 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

21 August 2008 at 16:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Sunapee, New Hampshire, United States

Coordinates

43.3850, -72.0800

Aircraft

Haines SEAREY

Registration

N204PB

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Newport → Sunapee

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC08CA285

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's failure to ensure that the landing gear was retracted for the water landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.