What happened
A private pilot operating a float-equipped Piper aircraft departed from a seaplane base under special VFR (SVFR) conditions. The weather at the time of departure included overcast skies at 400 feet and visibility of 2 miles in mist. This flight was the second of two unrelated Piper aircraft to request SVFR clearance for a local flight over an ocean inlet approximately 2.3 nautical miles wide within one minute of each other.
Approximately two minutes after takeoff, the pilot contacted air traffic control to request a return to the seaplane base, reporting that visibility was extremely thick. No further communication was received from the aircraft. The pilot of the first Piper airplane to depart also elected to return to the base and subsequently observed the tail of the accident aircraft protruding from the water near the mid-channel of the inlet.
A witness on the shore observed the Piper emerge from a fog bank approximately 100 feet above the water, flying in a left bank of about 45 degrees and with the nose down about 20 degrees. The aircraft impacted the water mid-channel, striking with the left wing first, and sank within approximately two minutes. There were no survivors observed.
The investigation
Following the incident, a large-scale water search was initiated involving a Coast Guard rigid-hull inflatable boat, a fire department rescue RIB, a 2-crew hovercraft, a commercial tug, and a volunteer underwater mapping vessel. Helicopter operations were attempted but could not be performed due to low ceilings and low visibility. Because the first Piper aircraft involved in the sequence was not equipped with position locating equipment, the exact location of the accident was an estimate provided by the pilot who spotted the wreckage.
The search for the pilot and the aircraft was suspended by the fire department approximately 1.5 hours after the accident. The pilot and the airplane have not been located.