CHI94FA262 · Grumman HU-16
Grumman HU-16 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI94FA262
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 1
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Grumman HU-16
- Aircraft type
- Grumman HU-16
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N7025N
- Operator
- Dasilva, Urbano M. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Taxi
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- On ground/water collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Distance/speed, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT AND BOAT OPERATOR HAD PREARRANGED TO MEET IN A COVE OFF A DESERTED ISLAND. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE WINDS WERE OUT OF THE ENE AT 10-15 KTS, AND HE LANDED ON AN EASTERLY HEADING. HE STATED '...WE TOUCHED DOWN AND WERE GOING TOWARDS SHORE WHEN I WENT INTO REVERSE AND OFF THE STEP. THE AIRPLANE TURNED RIGHT FURTHER TOWARDS SHORE AND AWAY FROM THE WIND....' THIS WOULD OCCUR IF THE LEFT PROPELLER DID NOT GO INTO REVERSE. THE PILOT THEN TURNED AROUND AND TAXIED DOWNWIND ON THE WATER TOWARDS THE MOORED BOAT. AS THE AIRPLANE NEARED THE BOAT, THE PILOT APPLIED REVERSE THRUST, BUT THE LEFT PROPELLER DID NOT GO INTO REVERSE PITCH. WHEN IT BECAME APPARENT THAT THE PILOT WAS HAVING DIFFICULTY SLOWING DOWN, THE BOAT OPERATOR, HIS WIFE, AND 4-YEAR-OLD SON JUMPED INTO THE WATER. THE 6-YEAR-OLD SON DID NOT GET OFF THE BOAT AND WAS KILLED WHEN THE AIRPLANE STRUCK THE BOAT. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE LEFT PROPELLER LOW PITCH STOP ASSEMBLY WAS NOT OPERATING NORMALLY DUE TO A DISPLACED STOP RING AND STOP WEDGE. THE PROPELLER ASSEMBLY HAD OPERATED ABOUT 70 HOURS SINCE IT WAS REBUILT.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO FOLLOW GOOD SEAPLANE OPERATING PRACTICES BY TAXIING WITH POWER AT FORWARD THRUST, WITH A TAILWIND, AT A SPEED THAT NECESSITATED USING REVERSE THRUST TO ARREST THE EXCESSIVE SPEED, AND THE PILOT'S MISJUDGMENT OF HIS DISTANCE FROM THE BOAT. THE FAILURE OF THE LEFT PROPELLER REVERSING SYSTEM WAS A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI94FA262
- Event ID
- 20001206X01985
- Case number
- CHI94FA262
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6c54ad842952f99361c41660bd9f6b7f33f4238eeb34338ede8692531a12d1b7; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:03:33.542Z.