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C-185 pilot reported a loss of control during a forced landing following the loss of engine power.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1554609 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201806 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Seaplane or Amphibian |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Route In Use | Visual Approach |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Engine |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10 Flight Crew Total 1900 Flight Crew Type 800 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue |
Narrative:
While descending from 2;000 feet MSL through 1;200 feet MSL in a cessna 185 float equipped airplane for a water landing; the engine suddenly lost all power. I turned on the boost pump and got a quick surge of power. Knowing that I could not make it to the lake; I located a swampy area off to my right side to set down in. I made the landing area and landed just fine; as the plane slowed to around 15 miles per hour; I hit a patch of alder bushes that tripped the bow of the floats causing the plane to pitch up going over on its back. There was no personal injury. [The next day] the plane was flipped back onto the pontoons. There was virtually no hull damage to the aircraft. It was discovered after righting the plane that the left side inboard gas filler cap was off. It is my belief that the filler cap did not get properly secured at the last refueling 55 minutes before the power loss; allowing the fuel to be drawn out of the tank and giving a false high fuel level reading on the left fuel tank. I had a fellow pilot friend helping with the refueling and I only did a visual check to verify the fuel cap was in place and did not climb up on the wing to physically check it. Lesson learned.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: C-185 pilot reported a loss of control during a forced landing following the loss of engine power.
Narrative: While descending from 2;000 feet MSL through 1;200 feet MSL in a Cessna 185 float equipped airplane for a water landing; the engine suddenly lost all power. I turned on the boost pump and got a quick surge of power. Knowing that I could not make it to the lake; I located a swampy area off to my right side to set down in. I made the landing area and landed just fine; as the plane slowed to around 15 miles per hour; I hit a patch of alder bushes that tripped the bow of the floats causing the plane to pitch up going over on its back. There was no personal injury. [The next day] the plane was flipped back onto the pontoons. There was virtually no hull damage to the aircraft. It was discovered after righting the plane that the left side inboard gas filler cap was off. It is my belief that the filler cap did not get properly secured at the last refueling 55 minutes before the power loss; allowing the fuel to be drawn out of the tank and giving a false high fuel level reading on the left fuel tank. I had a fellow pilot friend helping with the refueling and I only did a visual check to verify the fuel cap was in place and did not climb up on the wing to physically check it. Lesson learned.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.