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Atlas / NTSB / MIA07CA138

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event MIA07CA138

2007-09-01 Okeechobee, Florida, United States Airport · KOBE None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during landing, which resulted in the pilot being inadvertently ejected and the airplane's impact with the water during an uncontrolled descent.

Factual narrative

The pilot stated he departed from the Okeechobee Airport and headed toward the lake to practice touch and go landings on the water. When he arrived at the lake, he turned into the wind, which caused the nose of the airplane to rise. He over corrected, causing the nose to dip sharply. He had his hand on the throttle. The abrupt movement made him apply full throttle and push the flight controls to the left, which the airplane made a sharp left turn throwing him out the right side of the airplane. The airplane leveled itself off and flew about a mile before it came down and flipped over in the shallow water. A friend, whom was flying with him in his own airplane, saw what had happened. The friend called for help and got the attention of a nearby fisherman, which come to his aid and brought him to the shore. The pilot stated there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions to the airplane or any of its systems prior to the accident. The pilot stated that he departed from the Okeechobee Airport and headed toward the lake to practice touch and go landings on the water. When he arrived at the lake, he turned into the wind, which caused the nose of the airplane to rise. He over corrected, causing the nose to dip sharply. He had his hand on the throttle. The abrupt movement made him apply full throttle and push the flight controls to the left, which made the airplane make a sharp left turn throwing him out the right side of the airplane. The airplane leveled itself off and flew about a mile before it came down and flipped over in the shallow water. A friend, who was flying with him in his own airplane, saw what had happened. The friend called for help and got the attention of a nearby fisherman, who came to his aid and brought him to the shore. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions to the airplane or any of its systems prior to the accident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2007_MIA07CA138.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.