ANC05LA093 · Bellanca 7GCBC
Bellanca 7GCBC · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Lake Hood Seaplane Base (PALH) to Sterling, AK
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC05LA093
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Bellanca 7GCBC
- Aircraft type
- Bellanca 7
- 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
- N88110
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lake Hood Seaplane Base (PALH), Anchorage, AKTo Sterling, AK
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall
- 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
- Pilot in command › Airspeed(vs), not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The private certificated pilot was conducting a personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, and was performing a glassy water takeoff toward the west from a lake in a float-equipped airplane. He reported variable winds from the north. The pilot said that during the takeoff, he lifted the left float out of the water, then the right float at 45 mph, and began a climb at 55 mph. He said that when the airplane reached about 50 feet, it began a "very fast uncommanded roll to the right, and control forces went to zero." The pilot also indicated there was no mechanical malfunction/failure, and the engine was producing power during the accident sequence. The airplane descended toward the water, and the right wing and right float assembly struck the water and the airplane overturned. The pilot and passenger were both wearing inflatable jackets, and exited the airplane. An FAA airworthiness inspector examined the airplane as it sat on a trailer, after the pilot recovered and partially disassembled the airplane. The inspector reported that the airplane's flap handle was set at 10 degrees. The inspector did not indicate that he observed any mechanical malfunction. A METAR from the accident site included calm winds, and a temperature of 72 degrees F.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed during takeoff initial climb, which resulted in a loss of control and subsequent uncontrolled descent into a lake. A factor contributing to the accident was an inadvertent stall.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC05LA093
- Event ID
- 20050718X01047
- Case number
- ANC05LA093
- 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2005-07-02.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 1228a8bc51754617b1dcf279c698f27db98296c36d34bf20806871816e089eef; retrieved 2026-09-22T05:41:26.142Z.