Accident Details
The amphibious-float-equipped airplane departed from a paved runway for a 40-nautical-mile flight to its destination, where a water landing on a lake was planned. The pilot did not raise the landing gear after takeoff. During the flight, turbulence caused the gear advisory system to activate numerous times. This system alerts the pilot of the landing gear position—up for a water landing or down for a runway landing—when airspeed decreases below a set threshold.
Pilot Actions
Because the alerts became a nuisance, the pilot disabled the system by pulling its circuit breaker. He intended to reset the breaker during descent but did not do so. Upon reaching the destination, the pilot set up a 150- to 200-feet-per-minute rate of descent for a glassy water landing on the lake. With the landing gear in the down position, the airplane contacted the water and abruptly nosed over. The airplane came to rest floating inverted, suspended by the floats.
Contributing Factors
The pilot reported that the day of the accident was his nineteenth consecutive duty day, including both office and flight duties. He stated that he feels the lack of days off during the previous 19 days was a contributing factor to this accident. When asked what would have prevented the accident, the pilot suggested consistency in using the checklist. On two flights earlier in the day he had used a written checklist; on the accident flight he did not.