The purposes of the accident list below are to: (1) serve as historical reference (2) serve as a reminder to Seabee pilots.  The accident list does not intend to give a final conclusion on the cause of an accident.  When available to the author, the information has been taken from official accident reports. However, most of the information is from newspapers, books and other trivial sources.  For conclusive accident information, the final official NTSB reports should be consulted.

From the accident list below, the most common accident scenarios seem to be

(1) Gear down on water
(2) engine failure/fire
(3) landing
(4) ground loop
(5) taxiing.

The author will welcome any additional accident information, corrections and accident photos from the visitors to this web-site.  Any safety tips and reminders for avoiding accidents are most welcome too - and will be published here at your approval.  Please e-mail:

Reg: 

SE-AXD

A quick-thinking Navy pilot was credited with saving four lives at 2 p. m. (EST) today when he landed safely after a "freak wind" prevented his takeoff here at Lee Airport. Lt. Commander Conrad J. Welling of Edgewater, Md., landed his pusher-type Republic Seabee plane upside down in a plowed field after a sharp turn at 20-foot altitude in order to avoid crashing into a power line, Airport Manager J. W. Tyler said. Welling, his wife and baby daughter and a New York physician stepped out of the plane "without a scratch", Tyler said. "It was a neat bit of aviation", Tyler explained. Welling's plane had become airborne after taking off crosswind on the 3,000-foot runway but "did not gain altitude", the pilot's accident report said. "The engine was cut and the aircraft landed downwind in a clear, plowed field", he said.

LN-PAI

LN-PAK

Three upstate New Yorkers were rescued from the rough waters of Long Island Sound after a seaplane landing-accident. They were Anson Collins, 21, of Mechanicville; John Hayes, a pilot employed by Collins’ father, and Charles Jones, 53, of Round Lake. Collins was flying for the opening of classes at Milford Preparatory School, where he was a student. Hayes attempted to bring the plane down about 600 feet off the Milford breakwater. A wave caught the craft and it bounced into the air, lost a wing pontoon and dipped back into the water. The three men clung to the partly submerged craft until boats reached them.

In an effort to save the plane, Bruce Crary, former owner of Westport Marina, brought two boats to the crash site and tied onto the plane. They began to slowly tow the aircraft back to shore. However they soon noticed that the Seabee was rapidly taking on water and they were just able to cut their towlines as the plane rapidly sank into deep water. While several plans were formulated to raise the plane, none of them proved viable and the wreck was abandoned.

LN-PAL

LN-RAB

SE-AXL

LN-MAF

LN-PAK

LN-PAI

SE-AXH

LN-MAL

LN-PAF

LN-PAF

The forced landing was due to the reverse propeller ball race seizing up and destroying the inner oil seal which allowed the motor oil to escape. There was no indication of trouble until the oil pressure started to go down.

The ball race cage seems to have caused the trouble, or it could be the dural control called the Jack & link. This is held by a steel circlip, groved into the Jack Link, which leaves a very small margin of metal. All that metal was worn away and impregnated in all the parts.

A complete new unit was fitted at Portlier and the aircraft was flown to Vancouver for complete check.

SE-AXE

LN-PAL

Aircraft was recovered. It was found that the cause of accident was that propeller/extension shaft had separated from engine, probably due to on blade falling off from hub.

SE-AXK

LN-PAH

TF-VIA

LN-PAF

SE-AXN

LN-PAP

SE-AXW

Aircraft crashed in a takeoff attempt at the Minocqua airport, located three miles south of Minocqua on Highway 51, about 3:30 p.m. Saturday. They were Arthur Schoenemann, about 30, the pilot, and Leo Dann, 36, his passenger. Both suffered fractured collar bones and cuts and bruises about the head and shoulders. Dann also sustained internal injuries. Both men were taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Tomahawk. Chief of Police Lawrence Bradley of Minocqua said the plane stalled when it got about 100 feet off the ground on a takeoff attempt. It plunged sideways to the ground, landing on a wing tip, and rolled over.

Aircraft crashed into the side of a heavily-wooded mountain, killing one man and injuring two others. Killed instantly was Charles Johnston, Deep River, operator of a fishing and hunting camp from which the plane took off only a few minutes before it crashed. Brought out to a hospital here by stretcher, ambulance and boat from the forest country were William Wilt, Albany, N. Y., the pilot and Percy Lance, Deep River. Both were reported in critical condition in the hospital of this residential town near Canada’s Chalk River plant. Wilt arrived at Johnston’s camp at the Des Moines River Saturday morning after flying from Albany with Clayton John, Gloversville, N. Y., for a week or 10 days of fishing. Johnston and Lance agreed to go with Wilt to a small lake that afternoon after John said he’d rather try his luck at the camp.

LN-PAF

LN-TSN

LN-PAK

LN-TSN

SE-AXC

Accident investigations, however, disclosed that there still was sufficient fuel in the fuel system, and that the cause of engine stop was a mechanical failure in the mixture control cable.

LN-PAM

"103"

LN-BDT

LN-PAH

SE-AXU

43°40'N
81°10'W

OH-EGA

TG-CIP

LN-PAK

Accident investigation concluded:
The power failure, which resulted in the emergency landing, was attributed to failure of the supporting bracket to the coil which in turn broke the lead supplying it with current. The engine was not capable of running on the magneto alone because of its unsatisfactory condition. Aircraft inadequately maintained.

SE-AXT

SE-CHF

LN-MAM
(OH-SBC)

LN-PAH

SE-AXO

SE-AXI

44° 20' N
79° 28' W

SE-CMM

LN-TVV

SE-AXA

OH-SBB

N87576

According to pilot's statement, in the 6 hours of experience in the aircraft, the max engine RPM attained was 2,000.  During the initial legs of the ferry from Morristown, TN, to California, numerous takeoffs were aborted because the aircraft would not accelerate to proper take off speed.  Prior to the accident 2 unsuccessful takeoffs were aborted on the 9,000 ft runway.  On the third try the aircraft climbed to about 200 ft but was unable to maintain altitude.  In an attempt to clear a highway, the pilot raised the nose until the aircraft stalled, entered an uncontrolled descent and impacted the ground short of the road.

SE-BXC

N6014K

N6070K

N6175K

LN-IKK

N6295K

N6755K

N6723K

Yelm
Washington
USA

N6292K

Santa Rosa
California
USA

N48VP

Shasta Lake Redding California
USA

On the day of the accident the pilot departed on an approximate 30-minute flight from his home airport with an intended destination of Twin Lakes Airport (8A7), Mocksville, North Carolina.

The airplane came to rest in a field less than 2 miles from the destination airport. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector responded to the accident site and examined the airplane. The examination revealed that the airplane incurred substantial damage to the wing spar during the accident. The propeller was rotated by hand and crankshaft continuity was confirmed. In addition, he noted that there was no fuel in the fuel tanks and about 4 drops of fuel in the fuel filter. Furthermore, there was no evidence of fuel spillage at the accident site.