Incident Details
The flight departed with three passengers and full fuel. After a 25-minute flight, the pilot conducted a water landing. The airplane touched down approximately 400 feet from the shoreline, heading toward land. The landing was aborted about 300 feet from shore, short of rocks and swimmers. The airplane leveled off at 15 feet, then pitched up to clear a building and wires. It cleared the first set of wires but settled downward, subsequently striking a second set of wires, an automobile, and colliding with a building.
Weight and Balance Considerations
The airplane's calculated landing weight was 3,790 pounds. The manufacturer's maximum takeoff and landing gross weight, and performance charts for water operations, were based on 3,100 pounds. A supplemental type certificate increased the airplane's maximum water operation takeoff and landing weight to 3,350 pounds. The pilot's operating handbook charts listed a water landing distance of 610 feet and a water takeoff distance of 930 feet at a gross weight of 3,100 pounds. The calculated center of gravity was forward of the airplane's limits.