Trouble Flying Low Upon the Suwanee River

When you fly low, things may reach up to get you.

Peter Garrison

Friday, January 21, 2022 at 07:52 AM ET

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[File Photo: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

An amateur-built amphibian airplane crashed into power lines over a Florida river, killing the pilot, while flying at low altitude to search for a dog's life jacket.
The NTSB determined the probable cause was the pilot's failure to see and avoid the power lines, which he had flown over earlier but seemed to forget during an unexpected search mission.
The article suggests the pilot's judgment was compromised by a potential desire to "show off" or impress, evidenced by his exaggerated flight hours and the disproportionate use of an airplane for a simple search.
This incident highlights the significant dangers of low-altitude flying, where situational awareness can fail and there is minimal time or space to correct errors, especially in unfamiliar or obstructed environments.

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On a January afternoon in 2017, a sport pilot, 61, flew his amateur-built Buccaneer amphibian from the Orlando, Florida, area to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City to meet a friend and camp there beside the Suwanee River. The two-seat airplane, powered by a pylon-mounted 80 hp Rotax, had been built in 1992; the pilot had purchased it from the builder nine months prior.

The pilot, who had not visited the area before, flew up and down the river for some time looking for his friend. When he located him—just arriving—he landed northward on a straight segment of the 100-yard-wide river and tied up at a boat dock. Learning that his friend was about to go downstream on a paddleboard to hunt for a dog’s life jacket that had fallen into the water earlier in the day, the pilot said that he would help in the search after he had unloaded his gear from the airplane.