IAD00FA034 · Taylorcraft BC12D-4-85
Taylorcraft BC12D-4-85 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during landing
From Wingfield Airport (MD01) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- IAD00FA034
- 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
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- 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
Taylorcraft BC12D-4-85
- Aircraft type
- Taylorcraft BC12
- 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
- N43459
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wingfield Airport (MD01)To 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Landing gear, float assembly › Corroded
- Landing gear, float assembly › Separation
- Unknown › Maintenance, modification, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During an evaluation flight for a seaplane rating, the pilot-applicant approached the water for landing. The seaplane landed on calm water, left float first. The seaplane continued a short distance on the surface before the floats separated, and the airplane contacted the water. The EDO model 01320 floats were manufactured April 24, 1946. Examination of the maintenance records revealed that the airplane was stored for 10 years, with the floats and the wings removed. The owner stated that he did not disassemble the spreader bars from the floats for inspection, prior to reassembly of the airplane. Examination of the wreckage revealed the left aft spreader bar mount was attached to the left float. The upper and lower spreader bar mount straps were intact, with three spreader bar strap bolts inside. However, no portion of the spreader bar remained between the straps. Examination of the spreader bar mount bolts revealed heavy corrosion. No scraping, scoring, scratching, or sanding of the bolt surfaces were noted. All three bolts revealed a slight bend, with the bolt heads deflected inboard. Examination of the components revealed modifications not depicted in the manufacturer's parts diagram, and several repairs. The aft right lower spreader strap had a repair weld, and was broken in the area of the weld.
Probable cause
The failure of the float landing gear system due to non-standard repairs, improper modifications, and corrosion.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record IAD00FA034
- Event ID
- 20001212X20828
- Case number
- IAD00FA034
- 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: ccc5cbcac4bccce638af87a75773d5172d7b5328c1b696d1817612bf59f21083; retrieved 2026-09-22T12:59:51.800Z.