Cessna 172B N7657X

Summary

On 14 August 2007 at about 21:00 local time, a Cessna 172B registered N7657X was involved in an accident near Seattle, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 August 2007 at 21:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Seattle, Washington, United States

Coordinates

47.6167, -122.2667

Aircraft

Cessna 172B

Registration

N7657X

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Seattle → Spanaway

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA07CA235

Nobody was injured.

The private pilot's failure to see the approaching large wake swell, both during his landing and the subsequent takeoff, and the failure of the instructor pilot to insure that the private pilot's visual lookout was effective enough to detect the oncoming wake. Factors include a wake generated by a large boat.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the floatplane instructional flight, the private pilot decided to make a practice landing and takeoff on a large lake. Although the landing on the calm water was uneventful, during the takeoff run, just before liftoff, the aircraft encountered the wake of a large boat. As the aircraft crossed the crest of the first wave of the wake, it became momentarily airborne, and then it impacted the advancing forward face of the second wave. At the moment of impact, four of the float attach fittings failed. The pilot therefore immediately aborted the takeoff, but the right wing impacted the surface of the water before the aircraft came to a stop. Neither the private pilot nor the instructor pilot that was supervising him had seen the large swell approaching during the landing, and during the takeoff run, neither of them noticed it until a few seconds prior to the time the aircraft impacted it.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.