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Atlas / NTSB / ANC14CA032

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ANC14CA032

2014-05-31 Willow, Alaska, United States Airport · 2X2 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N602BC

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

FOUND ACFT CANADA INC FBA-2C2

Year of manufacture

2007 · 7 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING IO-540-L1C5 (300 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20090814

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A7CEC9

Registrant of record

N602BC LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's loss of control of the airplane during landing on water due to an encounter with wind shear, which resulted in the airplane's abnormal contact with the surface.

Factual narrative

The pilot was conducting an approach to land on water in a float-equipped airplane. He said that, because of the high winds, he conducted the approach at a high airspeed. He stated that, when the airplane was about 50 feet above the surface, it encountered a strong wind shear, and the left wing dropped. The pilot noted that he had never before encountered such a violent wind shear during landing. The pilot applied full power and full aileron but the airplane struck the water with its left float and left side of the tail before he could get it completely level. The airplane bounced, and the pilot then landed without further incident. Examination of the airplane revealed damage to the left elevator and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot was conducting an approach to land on water in a float-equipped airplane. He said that, because of the high winds, he conducted the approach at a high airspeed. He stated that, when the airplane was about 50 feet above the surface, it encountered a strong wind shear, and the left wing dropped. The pilot noted that he had never before encountered such a violent wind shear during landing. The pilot applied full power and full aileron but the airplane struck the water with its left float and left side of the tail before he could get it completely level. The airplane bounced, and the pilot then landed without further incident. Examination of the airplane revealed damage to the left elevator and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Windshear-Effect on operation
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Lateral/bank control-Not attained/maintained - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2014_ANC14CA032.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (wind shear, loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗