What happened
On January 16, 2026, at 16:09 Pacific daylight time, a Lake LA-4-200, registration N48X, was involved in an accident near Dewey, Washington. The aircraft was being operated as a Part 91 instructional flight by a flight instructor and a student pilot.
The flight instructor was conducting familiarization training with the student. The flight departed from Skagit Regional Airport (BVS) in Burlington/Mount Vernon, Washington, and proceeded to Lake Campbell, Washington, to perform water landings. Upon touching down on the water, the nose of the aircraft pitched forward. This impact resulted in a broken windscreen and substantial damage to the airplane. Following the incident, the engine failed to start, and the crew paddled the aircraft to the shore. There were no injuries to the flight instructor or the student pilot.
The investigation
A preliminary examination of the aircraft revealed damage to the nose gear doors. The flight instructor indicated that the nose landing gear was likely prevented from retracting fully because the wheel made contact with the landing gear door. Prior to the water landing, the instructor had used the convex mirrors on the aircraft's sponsons to visually confirm that the main landing gear were retracted.