NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA25LA347
Registry · N3576D
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 170B
Year of manufacture
1956 · 69 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR 0-300 SER (145 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19560716
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A401FC
Registrant of record
VORPAGEL STEPHEN L
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during takeoff, which resulted in an inadvertent descent, contact with the water, and a subsequent nose over.
Factual narrative
The pilot of the seaplane was departing from calm, glassy lake. During the takeoff, he leveled the airplane about 15 ft above the water in order to gain airspeed. The pilot then reached down to retract the airplane’s flaps and likely inadvertently applied forward pressure on the elevator control. The airplane then contacted the water and nosed over, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane’s fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of 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).
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Pitch control-Not attained/maintained
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2025_ERA25LA347.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
Wetting Angle and Surface Tension of Germanium Melts on Different Substrate Materials
The sessile drop technique has been used to measure the wetting angle and the surface tension of molten germanium (Ge) on various substrate materials.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
Determination of the Wetting Angle of Germanium and Germanium-Silicon Melts on Different Substrate Materials
During Bridgman growth of semiconductors detachment of the crystal and the melt meniscus has occasionally been observed, mainly under microgravity (microg) conditions.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
Contact Angles and Surface Tension of Germanium-Silicon Melts
Precise knowledge of material parameters is more and more important for improving crystal growth processes. Two important parameters are the contact (wetting) angle and the surface tension, determinin…
- arXiv 2019 · arXiv preprint
Heat and water vapor transfer in the wake of a falling ice sphere and its implication for secondary ice formation in clouds
We perform direct numerical simulations of the settling of an ice sphere in an ambient fluid accounting for heat and mass transfer with the aim of studying in a meteorological context the case of fall…
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