ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 207286
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| Date: | Sunday 4 March 2018 |
| Time: | 10:40 |
| Type: |  Cessna U206G |
| Owner/operator: | Cloud 9 Seaplanes |
| Registration: | VH-LHQ |
| MSN: | U20603773 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Southport Broadwater, QLD -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Southport Broadwater, QLD |
| Stradbroke Island, QLD | |
| Investigating agency: | ATSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot of a Cessna 206 floatplane, registered VH-LHQ (LHQ), operated by Cloud 9 Seaplanes, was due to pick up two passengers from a park next to Sea World Resort at Southport Broadwater, Australia, for a short charter flight to Stradbroke Island.
At about 0845 Eastern Standard Time, the pilot arrived at the aircraft’s base and conducted a pre-flight inspection. At about 1000, he conducted a 6-minute positioning flight from LHQ’s base to Southport Broadwater, where he was due to collect the passengers. No problems or defects were identified during the pre-flight inspection or the positioning flight.
At about 1030, prior to the passengers boarding the floatplane, the pilot briefed them on the safe entry and exit procedures. The passengers boarded LHQ and, at about 1040, the pilot began taxiing. During the taxi, the pilot completed the passenger safety briefing. As part of the briefing, the passengers were shown the location of their life jackets and the location and operation of the emergency exits. To ensure the passengers understood how to operate the emergency exit, the pilot asked the passenger in the rear seat to practice opening the exit.
The floatplane had a relatively long taxi to avoid a large boat travelling south. After the boat passed, the pilot taxied to the eastern side of the western channel, passing over the boat’s wake.
Shortly after, the pilot applied take-off power. The take-off run was normal and the pilot put the aircraft on the step. The pilot reported that take-off run was a little bumpy, due to the wakes of some speedboats in the vicinity, but he did not consider it out of the ordinary. At about 30 kt, the aircraft started to ‘wobble’ from side-to-side. Moments later, the nose pitched down and the propeller contacted the water. In response, the pilot pulled back the power and mixture and attempted to steer the aircraft in a straight line – there was little steering control.
The aircraft came to a stop about 300 m from the shore. The pilot reminded the passengers of how to put on their life jackets, before he got out of the aircraft to assess the floats for damage. He found the front spreader bar of the floats had fractured but the floats were intact. As they were intact, he decided not to evacuate the passengers. No one had been injured.
The pilot then deployed and secured the floatplane’s anchor. About a minute after the occurrence, a parasailing boat whose occupants had witnessed the accident came alongside the aircraft. The passengers were transferred to the boat and taken ashore.
After another couple of minutes, a voluntary marine rescue boat arrived at the scene, and arranged to tow the substantially damaged aircraft onto a nearby beach.
Findings:
- During the take-off roll, the floatplane’s front spreader bar fractured resulting in the floats separating and the aircraft pitching down sufficiently for the propeller to contact the water.
- The origin of the fracture was a fatigue crack in the spreader bar section located inside the float, which meant routine visual inspections could not have detected the crack.
- Frequent, short flights in an area of high water traffic exposed the floats and associated structure to high cyclic loading and stresses, increasing the likelihood of material fatigue.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2018/aair/ao-2018-020/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Mar-2018 08:03 | Pineapple | Added |
| 23-Oct-2018 18:40 | harro | Updated [Date, Destination airport, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
| 23-Oct-2018 18:40 | harro | Updated [Date] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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