ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 270870
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| Date: | Friday 17 December 2021 |
| Time: | 12:24 |
| Type: |  Lake LA-250 Renegade |
| Owner/operator: | Amphibian Flyers LLC |
| Registration: | N1402C |
| MSN: | 15 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1984 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Auburndale, FL -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Winter Haven Municipal Airport - Gilbert Field, FL (GIF/KGIF) |
| Winter Haven Municipal Airport - Gilbert Field, FL (GIF/KGIF) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On December 17, 2021, at 1224 eastern standard time, a Lake LA-250 amphibious airplane, N1402C, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident in Auburndale, Florida. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
The pilot departed from a lake near his residence, about 5 nautical miles southeast of the accident site, for a local flight. About 53 minutes after departure, the airplane overflew another lake at an altitude of about 825 ft above mean sea level. After a slight right turn, the airplane rapidly descended and impacted the water. First responders recovered floating debris and found the carcass of a turkey vulture in the debris field. During recovery of the airplane, feathers were found wrapped around the fuel cap and filler neck of the right wing fuel tank, suggestive of a bird strike.
Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any pre-impact anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Although two witnesses reported observing potential problems with the engine, describing its noise as “struggling to develop full power” and “making a sputtering noise”, the damage to the propeller blades, which included leading edge gouging, chordwise scratch marks, and “S” bending, were consistent with the engine rotating and under power at the time of impact. No additional bird remnants or impact marks were found that would conclusively explain precisely how a bird strike (or strikes) may have led to a loss of control. However, the presence of the bird carcass in the debris field, which was located about 0.1 nautical miles southwest of where the airplane began its rapid descent, suggests that bird likely remained with the airplane after being struck by it. No remnants of the windscreen were recovered with the airplane wreckage, which suggests the possibility that a bird (or birds) may have penetrated the cockpit.
Given the bird remnants found on the airplane and at the accident site, along with the wreckage examination that did not identify any pre-impact anomalies with the airplane or engine, it is likely that a bird strike led to the loss of control.
Probable Cause: A bird strike, which resulted in a loss of control while flying at low altitude over a lake.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.fox13news.com/news/single-engine-plane-crashes-in-auburndale-lake
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-polk/small-plane-crashes-into-lake-arietta-in-polk-county
https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=104419
https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=1402C
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1402C
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a0a551&lat=28.115&lon=-81.809&zoom=13.4&showTrace=2021-12-17&leg=2
https://cdn.jetphotos.com/full/5/61685_1487026652.jpg (photo)
Location
Images:
Photo: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Dec-2021 18:52 | Captain Adam | Added |
| 17-Dec-2021 22:16 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Dec-2021 00:05 | johnwg | Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 18-Dec-2021 11:14 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Location, Narrative] |
| 19-Dec-2021 01:39 | johnwg | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 20-Dec-2021 12:39 | RobertMB | Updated [Time] |
| 20-Dec-2021 16:23 | johnwg | Updated [Time, Source] |
| 22-Dec-2021 13:35 | Captain Adam | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 24-Dec-2021 05:52 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Apr-2022 12:45 | Captain Adam | Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 05-Jan-2024 17:58 | Captain Adam | Updated [Phase, Source, Narrative, Accident report, Photo] |
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