NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA15CA279
Registry · N896CB
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
SNA INC SEAWIND 3000
Year of manufacture
2012 · 3 years old at event
Engine
AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20120803
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AC5BD2
Registrant of record
BRUNZLICK LARRY R
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
Abnormal runway contact which precipitated a loss of directional control and impact with water.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that he was practicing landings on a lake in his experimental amateur-built amphibious airplane. During the accident landing, he reported that the airplane "skipped slightly about 2 feet off the water, I held attitude and let it come down again but I accidentally let the left wing tip sponson settle onto the water while still going at about 55 knots." The airplane started to turn to the left, the sponson dug in more, and he reported that he did not correct the situation quickly enough. The airplane turned 180 degrees before coming to rest. Once the airplane was towed to shore, substantial damage was noticed to both wing sponsons and the rudder. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that he was practicing landings on a lake in his experimental amateur-built amphibious airplane. During the accident landing, he reported that the airplane "skipped slightly about 2 feet off the water, I held attitude and let it come down again but I accidentally let the left wing tip sponson settle onto the water while still going at about 55 knots." The airplane started to turn to the left, the sponson dug in more, and he reported that he did not correct the situation quickly enough. The airplane turned 180 degrees before coming to rest. Once the airplane was towed to shore, substantial damage was noticed to both wing sponsons and the rudder. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine 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
- 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_2015_GAA15CA279.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 or causal vocabulary (icing). 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 2026 · Contractor Report (CR)
Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis
In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for UAV-Assisted 5G Network Slicing: A Comparative Study of MAPPO, MADDPG, and MADQN
The growing demand for robust, scalable wireless networks in the 5G-and-beyond era has led to the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as mobile base stations to enhance coverage in dense urb…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Mathematical Model on the Temporal Dynamics of Aviation Competitive Pricing
This study investigates the competitive dynamics of airport pricing using U.S. airport data to validate the findings. It employs linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equation models to analyze t…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – March 2025
This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tes…
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
An energy-stable phase-field model for droplet icing simulations
A phase-field model for three-phase flows is established by combining the Navier-Stokes (NS) and the energy equations, with the Allen-Cahn (AC) and Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equations and is demonstrated ana…
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – Oct 2024
This presentation provides a status update on select NASA icing research activities for the SAE AC-9C Icing Technical Committee Meeting on Oct 21, 2024.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗