[Music] on July 27th 2017 a lake renegade amphibious aircraft arrived at the Oshkosh seaplane base for an afternoon during air venture week the renegade carried three occupants the 33,000 our ATP rated pilot a 2,400 our CFI and the right seat and a non pilot friend in the back seat the renegade is a six seat single-engine amphibious airplane produced by the lake aircraft company water takeoffs and landings in the renegade require a deft touch and many pilots of Lake models do not consider themselves experienced until they have accumulated a few hundred hours in the aircraft the
pilot had almost 900 hours of single-engine seaplane time although time and the lake renegade was more limited the CFI rated passenger had about 150 Lake hours and he had provided seaplane instruction to the pilot the trio arrived at the Oshkosh seaplane base just after 12 p.m. local time and requested a tow into the harbour due to a sagging float under the left wing the waves on Lake Winnebago were choppy that day with winds picking up to 12 knots and the float was taking on water the aircraft was towed to the dock where the passengers disembarked
and the pilot drained a large amount of water from the left float the trio then left the seaplane base for a couple of hours at approximately 2:30 p.m. the pilot returned seemingly ready to prepare the renegade for departure he asked for a boat to transport him to the aircraft which had been towed to a mooring buoy out on the water after boarding the renegade the pilot started the engine and attempted to taxi but the aircraft was still connected to the mooring buoy when the volunteer boat crew asked him what he was trying to do he
was reportedly argumentative with a boat driver saying you can't prevent me from leaving with my aircraft the volunteer explained that he simply wanted to help and that he wasn't going to be able to leave until he untied from the buoy the aircraft was then towed to the ramp where the pilot drained more water from the left float as well as the fuel in the left float fuel tank at this time it was discovered that an inspection panel was missing underneath the left wing the pilot stated that he was ready to leave this concerned a member
of the air ops team however who discouraged him from taking off due to the choppy water conditions on the lake the pilot was resistant to this advice possibly worried about finding lodging during AirVenture week two more pilot briefers one of them a previous Lake owner talked to the pilot to try to dissuade him a lake amphibian has a high thrust line near the center of gravity due to the position of the engine this high thrust line causes downward pitching action when full power is applied which is exacerbated by choppy water the ensuing porpoising movements take
considerable yoke action properly timed to counteract for this reason takeoffs and choppy water conditions are not recommended according to witnesses the pilot was difficult to communicate with and did not accept any advice from those trying to persuade him to stay finally the seaplane base chairman was called down to talk to the pilot after much conversation the chairman convinced the pilot to take a boat ride with him to see the water conditions firsthand the Chairman along with a pilot and the Harbormaster took a boat out into the bay adjacent to the seaplane base they observed the
waves to be one and a half to two feet high the maximum demonstrated wave height for the lake renegade is 18 inches the pilot agreed that the wave conditions were not acceptable at that time however after some additional consideration he stated that he would just take off parallel to the swells in a northwesterly direction the Chairman and harbor master strongly disagreed with this idea the wind was coming from the southeast and this would mean taking off with a tailwind the Chairman told the pilot emphatically that he would never get a lake airborne in the current
water conditions downwind with three people on board and added that trying so would be dangerous it was never completely clear why the pilot wanted to take off in a downwind direction it's possible he wanted to limit his time taxiing on the water due to the issue with the left wing float and to take off into the wind would require a long taxi out of the bay before turning southeast after the boat returned to the dock seaplane base volunteers offer their assistance in finding the pilot and his passengers lodging for the night as time passed the
water conditions improved somewhat apparently enough to satisfy the pilot that it was safe to leave the pilot indicated that he was going to load his passengers and depart the seaplane base staff however were not convinced the Chairman continued to discourage the pilot from leaving and shared his concerns with others he had another Lake owner talked to the pilot to try and convince him of the danger of taking off on high waves at this time the pilot was also reminded that he still had a missing inspection panel on the underside of the left wing and the
renegade was on air worthy without it after some discussion the pilot was connected with a local mechanic who performed a field repair with a small sheet of aluminum and duct tape afterward the pilot checked out of the office and received a final briefing from air ops who gave one last recommendation not to leave determined to move ahead with his plan the pilot loaded up with his passengers and his aircraft was towed out of the seaplane base by boat as the aircraft was towed into the bay the pilots impatience was evident as he stated on two
separate occasions that he was going to start the engine both times he was told to wait by the Harbormaster who pointed out that the aircraft was still hooked up and undertow within seconds of being released from the tow-rope the pilot started the engine and immediately applied takeoff power video and photos were taken of the aircraft as it made its way out of the bay it was noted by witnesses that the flaps were in the up position which according to the flight manual should be extended for all takeoffs and landings flaps are especially important to achieve
lift out of choppy water as quickly as possible the renegade made an arcing right turn on the water to the north to clear stretch point and then settled into a northwesterly heading at a high rate of speed after a 60-second takeoff run downwind the aircraft began porpoising bounced off the waves three times and lurched airborne the left wing stalled and caught the water and the airplane cartwheeled the renegade came to rest in the opposite direction of the take-off with the right wing submerged and the left wing suspended in the air only the right seat CFI
passenger survived so often poor decisions easily identified in the aftermath are camouflaged in the moment despite strenuous objections from credible on lookers the highly experienced pilot could not see the extreme risk of departing in the unfavorable conditions that day perhaps the notion of getting stuck at AirVenture without lodging or transportation was so distasteful it blinded him to clear reasoning a proven enhancement to decision making is a second pilot on board but it didn't help in this instance from the NTSB report it's difficult to determine what role the right seat CFI played in the fateful decision
to launch at minimum he acquiesced a CFI is always a CFI even when not specifically operating as c fi or p IC CF eyes are encouraged to speak up step in and assert their judgement this see fi passenger was in a tough spot riding along with a strong-willed pilot who is also a C fi but importantly had relied on the passenger see fi for instruction in the lake renegade perhaps he felt intimidated by the pilots experience some 30,000 hours more than he perhaps the passenger CFI also didn't fully appreciate the demanding scenario building like pilots
do not consider 150 hours to be experienced committed to a poor decision the pilot proceeded in haste which usually invites mistakes and did so on this flight he forgot to lower the flaps in accordance with a lake operating manual and a checklist stating the same was posted in a visible location on the instrument panel this was an error that was compounded by rough water in a post accident interview with the NTSB the right seat see fi passenger said he heard the pilot verbalized that the flaps were down prior to starting the take-off he also claimed
that the lake renegade could take off without the flaps extended but it would result in a longer takeoff distance while this statement is technically true it is not optimal procedure nor is it recommended by the manufacturer especially not for rough water conditions had the right seats EF I realized that the flaps were in fact up it's not clear if he would have corrected the pilot neither the pilot nor the CFI passenger seemed deterred even after an elongated takeoff run bouncing through the rough water the pilot failed to properly counteract the porpoising which should have been
anticipated Lake aircraft pilots matched their experience level with bumps on the takeoff run after a single bump Lake pilots are encouraged to the throttle and regroup after three bumps even the most experienced Lake pilots are encouraged to abort on this run the pilot bumped off the waves three times but continued the takeoff the combination of mistakes proved fatal operating in rough water in a tailwind without flaps heavy weight and executing poor rough water takeoff technique left almost no other outcome but disaster the end result was that a high time pilot and a CFI were involved
in a disaster that took the pilots own life plus the life of a passenger who couldn't fully appreciate the risk they took on her behalf it's a tragic reminder of the trust passengers placed in their pilots and can serve a somber reinforcement of our duty to uphold that trust [Music]
