Textron 208B N143CA

Summary

On 4 September 2024 at about 21:00 local time, a Textron 208B registered N143CA was involved in an accident near New York, New York, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 September 2024 at 21:00

Classification

Accident

Location

New York, New York, United States

Nearest airport

New York Skyports Inc (6N7)

Coordinates

40.7296, -73.9672

Aircraft

Textron 208B

Registration

N143CA

Category

Airplane

Year built

2019

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → East Hampton

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA24LA372

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s improper decision to rush his departure, which resulted in a rough water encounter and collision with the wake of a passing ferry boat.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot explained that there was nothing wrong with the amphibious airplane as he completed his seven previous flights that day and began his eighth takeoff from a river. During the takeoff, the airplane “struck a very strong wake and felt the wing might have hit the wake” but he continued the takeoff. Once in flight, the pilot saw damage beneath the left wing and diverted to the airplane’s base at a nearby airport. A post-landing inspection revealed that the left wing sustained substantial damage. The “dockhand” said the pilot rushed him to his place in the right front seat in an effort to outrace the wake of a 600-passenger, high-speed ferry crossing their takeoff path. He took his seat and buckled his seat belt when the airplane was “already on the move,” and during the takeoff run, the airplane was “rocked around by the choppy water in the river and hit the wake of the [ferry].” The dockhand said he’d flown in the right seat with several different pilots from the same river location, and that “every one of them would wait for the wake to diminish before trying to launch.”

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.