Skip to content

WPR23LA019

2022-10-15 · Lake Isabel, Washington, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s loss of airplane control after an encounter with windshear during takeoff which, resulted in a hard water landing.

Factual narrative

The pilot of the amphibious airplane reported that, during the tailwind departure from the mountain lake, the airplane was about 40 ft above water level, at an airspeed of 57 miles per hour (mph), when the airplane encountered windshear. The airspeed decreased suddenly by 10-15 mph and the airplane entered a 600 foot per minute descent rate that the airplane was unable to out climb with takeoff power. The airplane subsequently collided hard with the water and bounced before coming to rest. The wings and fuselage were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Windshear-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2022_WPR23LA019.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.