Researching Seaplane Accidents - Wheels down on Water...

[seaplanepaul]

Gidday Gidday all,

Am researching wheels down on water seaplane accidents in New Zealand.
Anybody have any information on any other incidents than these four thank you...

1/4/22 ZK-YAY Progressive Aerodyne Searey, Mapua Estuary - 2 minor injuries

1/2/19 ZK- WKA De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, Auckland Harbour - rebuild required

13/1/96 ZK-DJH Anderson Kingfisher, Lake Te Anau- rebuild required

21/1/80 ZK-BGQ Grumman G-44 Widgeon, Kellys Bay - 2 pilots killed

[Dave Homewood]

24/11/37 Supermarine Walrus K8541 - Crashed Wellington Harbour after water landing with undercarriage down 24 November 1937. Lieutenant G. Nicholl, Corporal Ison and LAC Simcox uninjured but aircraft written off.

[thomarse]

We were talking just the other day about C180 BJY and its two whoopsies in Queenstown - or was that on FB?

[Dave Homewood]

That was in the C180 thread in the Agricultural Aviation board.

That discussion begins here and carried on over the page:
rnzaf.proboards.com/post/307270/thread

[zkdex]

Two more known incidents.
9 Oct 1942, Supermarine Walrus, K8558, Waitemata Harbour.
15 Jan 1964, Grumman Widgeon, Zk-bpx, Port Pegasus, Stewart I.

[gtw]

I had the right hand main wheel lower on its own at the Abrolhos Islands 16 July 1970. We did a ground loop and the prop touched the water, but 3 Pax in the rear seats saved the day.

[gtw]

I forgot to add, It was a Cessna 185 VH WWF. I tied the wheel to a rope and thru the window so I could lower it back at Geraldton.

[Dave Homewood]

That sounds like quite a flight, GTW.

[Dave Homewood]

Are you aware of this one Paul? From The Press, 26 December 1970:

Harbour rescue bid fails

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Dec. 25.

A rescue attempt by two men failed to save the lives of the pilot and three passengers on board a Mount Cook Airlines amphibian aircraft, which plummeted into the Waitemata Harbour just off Browns Island on Thursday morning.

The two men, Messrs T. Creegan, and C. Aspden, were on the hydrofoil Manuwai when the plane crashed into the sea about quarter of a mile away at 8 a.m. The Manuwai, which was heading for Auckland from Waiheke Island, reached the scene within minutes but by then only parts of a wing and the tailplane were showing above the water.

Both Mr Creegan, who is a crewman on the hydrofoil, and Mr Aspden, a passenger, stripped to their underclothes and dived over the side with ropes.

Ropes attached
They were unable to reach the escape-hatch but in spite of oil and wreckage everywhere they managed to get the two mooring ropes round one of the floats. However, the ropes had no sooner been secured than the plane suddenly plunged to the seabed about 30 feet down.

Four hours later, divers found the bodies of the four inside the twisted fuselage. The pilot was
Captain Roger George Poole, aged 30, married with two children, of 1 Frankton, Queenstown.

His three passengers were members of an N.Z.B.C. television team which had chartered the aircraft to photograph a launch which was burning near Browns Island. They were 

Stephen Ronald With, aged 23, single, of Chelmsford Avenue, Glendowie, an N.Z.B.C. reporter.
Wayne Robert Stevens, aged 25, married, of King Edward Avenue, Epsom, a television cameraman employed by Sunlander ‘ Films, Ltd.
David Reid Grant, aged 21, single, of Rockwood Place, Epsom, a technician employed by Sunlander Films, Ltd.

The aircraft, a twin-engined Grumman Widgeon, had been delivered to Auckland from Queenstown by Captain Poole on Tuesday. Captain B. H. Packer, who is in charge of Mount Cook Airlines in Auckland, said the plane had just had a full mechanical overhaul and the day before had been flying faultlessly. He had no idea what might have caused the crash. In the 15 years that the amphibians had been flying round Auckland, it was the first time there had been an accident involving injury, he said.

Many people saw the crash and all told the same story. The aircraft had landed, taxied round the burning launch twice and then taken off. It had climbed up in a banking turn, turned in towards the launch again, and dropped into the sea in a vertical dive. It hit the water very hard, sending up a huge splash.

Ministry of Transport aviation accidents inspectors are investigating the crash. The launch, the 28ft Seamist, burned for nearly an hour and then sank. The photograph above shows the wreckage being lifted from the sea.

(Photos of those killed and the aircraft being lifted on the link here)

[Peter Lewis]

From aviation-safety.net:

"The investigation found the float near the wingtip could obscure filming, but for a better camera angle the aircraft could be flown with the right rudder to skid around the nose, with opposite aileron to counteract any rolling effect. The pilots view to the right was obstructed by the camera operator, he was flying into the early morning sun, and the artificial horizon was switched off and locked, all of which prevented him realising the dangerous angle until too late."


aviation-safety.net/wikibase/26201

[Dave Homewood]

Swiss cheese by the sound of it.

[Dave Homewood]

Has this one been mentioned? From the Press,5 March 1965

Plane Crash In Lake; Two Dead

(New Zealand Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, March 4.

Two men were killed when a Southern Scenic Air Services Cessna 180 float plane crashed into Lake Shirley, near the head of Caswell Sound, in Fiordland, early this afternoon.

One of the three men aboard the plane survived.

The pilot of the aircraft is known to have been killed in the crash. He was

ALAN NICHOLAS, aged about 40, of Te Anau, married, with four children.

He came to Southern Scenic Services in October, 1963, from James Aviation, Rotorua, where he was passenger service division manager.

The name of the dead passenger, and the survivor, understood to be deerstalkers, are not known.

The Cessna was found, near-sub-merged, in Lake Shirley by a searching aircraft about 6.30 tonight. The survivor was clinging to one wing.

A Tourist Air Travel Grumman amphibian operated by Ritchie Air Services at Te Anau was to spend tonight on Lake Shirley. Piloted by Captain Max Brister, the plane took Constable E. Donnelly, of Te Anau and Mr Colin Tauri, of Te Anau, an A.A. camp manager who is a registered nurse.

Rescue Gear
The Grumman flew in stretchers, first aid gear and other rescue gear.

Because of bad weather it was unable to take off again. At Te Anau, Captain Ian Ritchie is standing by with his Cessna 206 float plane converted to an ambulance ready to fly to the lake at first light if the weather clears.

Search operations were instituted early this afternoon when the Invercargill airport control tower found Captain Nicholas was overdue at his Lake Shirley destination. Repeated calls to his aircraft failed to gain a reply. About 3 p.m. the control tower telephoned Captain Ritchie at Te Anau. Captains Brister and Ritchie, in the Grumman, took off about 5.30 p.m. for Lake Shirley. It was impossible to go in sooner because of the weather in this mountainous and rugged area. The two pilots found the crashed plane about 20 minutes later, but did not land because it would have been impossible to take off again.

No Take-off
They returned to Te Anau, where the aircraft was loaded with relief gear, and the rescue party returned.

The Grumman made a difficult landing on the lake. Takeoff was impossible before nightfall.

Captain Ritchie said tonight that unless the weather cleared overnight, it might not be possible for him to fly in and out with the dead and injured. He will remain on stand-by until he can make it.

[Dave Homewood]

From the Press, 6 March 1965

Another Float Plane Mishap In Fiordland

(New Zealand Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, March 5.

The brand new six-seater Cessna 206 float plane, operated by Ritchie Air Services at Te Anau, overturned in Lake McKerron, in Fiordland, this afternoon. None of the four persons aboard was injured.

The crash happened just 24 hours after a four-seater Cessna 180 aircraft of Southern Scenic Air Services crashed into Lake Shirley in remote Fiordland, killing the pilot and a passenger. One man survived this crash.

The new aircraft, valued at £16,100, arrived at Te Anau last Friday from New Plymouth, where it had been assembled by Rex Aviation, Ltd. It is the only one of its type in New Zealand. The aircraft was under the command of Captain lan Ritchie, of Te Anau, one of New Zealand's most experienced commercial pilots.

Captain Ritchie flew into Lake McKerrow to pick up a party of deerstalkers at the Haroko hut at the eastern end of Lake McKerrow and take them to a hut at the western end where the Hollyford river runs a few miles into Martins Bay. There, he was to pick up another party and fly them out to Te Anau.

Upside Down
Observers who found the wrecked plane said tonight it appeared to be lying in about 6ft of water, upside down, with its twin floats sticking out of the water.

Captain Ritchie and his passengers were on the beach near the plane and all waved to the Ritchie Air Services land plane which flew over. The pilot was Captain Max Brister, who, with Captain Ritchie, on Thursday evening found the wreck of the Cessna 180 piloted by Captain Alan Nicholas.

Observers said that it appeared that the aircraft was not badly damaged. But, in that area, salvage operations will be difficult, even impossible.

The survivor of the air crash at Lake Shirley was found lying on a float of the upturned Cessna in the cold waters of the lake, and it is thought that he had been in the water for upwards of six hours.

The survivor is Mr James Taylor, who is about 60, a retired hotel licensee, of 110 North bank, Launceston, Tasmania. He was admitted to Kew Hospital in Invercargill early today, with fractured ribs, a compound fracture of the ankle and severe shock.

The passenger who was killed was: Robert Turner, aged 41, a hairdresser, of 71 Ilam road, Christchurch. Both passengers were deer stalkers. Captain Nicholas, aged 42. of Te Anau, was also killed.

Mr Taylor was rescued by a party consisting of Constable E. Donnelly, of Te Anau, Mr Colin Tauri, a registered nurse, and Captain M. Brister, the pilot of a Tourist Air Travel amphibian.

In a dazed and shocked condition, Mr Taylor could give no details of the accident, and does not even know how he got out of the plane, or what happened to the pilot and other passenger. It appears certain that the Cessna crashed during takeoff.

The rescue party was flown to the lake last evening but could not be brought out again because the lake was turbulent.

Numbed By Cold
The party taxied to the beach where he was taken ashore. Mr Taylor was numbed by the cold, and his broken ankle bone was protruding three inches through the skin.

The party erected a tent over him and reset the broken ankle after cutting his clothing away. Each of them took turns throughout the night to rub him to get the warmth back into his body.

Constable Donnelly said Mr Taylor could not have lasted the night on the float. Captain I. Ritchie flew in this morning in an amphibian converted to an ambulance and took Mr Taylor to Invercargill.

[Dave Homewood]

DOUBLE DISASTER.—TOP: Wreckage of the four-seater Cessna 180 float plane which crashed into Lake Shirley, Fiordland, last Thursday, killing the pilot and a passenger. The bodies have been recovered. BOTTOM: Salvaging the new six-seater Cessna 206 float plane, which overturned 24 hours later. None of the four persons on board was injured when the plane, the only one of its kind in the country, overturned on Lake McKerrow.
PRESS, 9 MARCH 1965

[Dave Homewood]

Oh sorry, I just remembered this thread was about amphibians that had accidents due to wheels being down. But hopefully these two crashes are still of interest.

[Dave Homewood]

I wonder if this was caused by lowered wheels? From The Press, 25 October 1968:

Amphibian Overturns

(N.Z. Press Association) INVERCARGILL, Oct. 24. The radio personality, Selwyn Toogood, received a ducking today when an amphibious aircraft in which he was a passenger flipped over at Stewart Island. No-one was injured. In addition to the pilot and Mr Toogood there were three other persons in the aircraft, a senior Post Office technician and two members of the Selwyn Toogood troupe. The aircraft, which belongs to Tourist Air Travel, was coming in to land at Half Moon Bay about 9 a m. when the incident occurred. It was towed upside down to the shore by a launch.

[Dave Homewood]

I see the one above was ZK-AVM, now owned by Wal Denholm.

This is from 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2011/07/mount-cook-airlines-amphibian-service.html but again does not mention the cause. I cannot imagine they'd attempt to alight in waves that would flip the aircraft over, so I strongly wonder if the wheels had something to do with it.

"Amphibian operations are prone to incidents and these did happen. On the 24th of October 1968, Widgeon ZK-AVM was carrying radio celebrity Selwyn Toogood and the “It’s in the Bag” team across to Stewart Island. However, on landing at Halfmoon Bay the plane flipped over. The newspaper account records that Captain J Hassett freed the passengers, who were hanging upside down by their safety belts. All got out safely and suffered no more than cuts and bruises and ducking in the chilly water. All the equipment for use in the broadcast is now at the bottom of Half Moon Bay. More equipment was obtained and less than four hours after the accident the show went on the air. The show must go on! Meanwhile, ZK-AVM was returned to Invercargill of the ferry, the Wairua, the next day and prompt action in dismantling and washing everything to get rid of the salt saved the airframe. The aeroplane was back in service by Christmas."

[Dave Homewood]

Selwyn made this broadcast there and mentions the crash:

www.ngataonga.org.nz/search-use-collection/search/23240/

[errolmartyn]

Aug 10, 2024 20:26:09 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

I wonder if this was caused by lowered wheels? From The Press, 25 October 1968:

Amphibian Overturns

Yes, Johnny Hassett forgot to raise them on leaving Invecargill airport for the Island. Think he was distracted by the celeb he had on board.

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Errol.