• 56-0406 US Army # 1731. L-20 No. 732. Command A-11. Delivered 27-Sep-1957. Built as L-20A and re-designated U-6A in 1962.
• 56-0406 For sale at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim-Sandhofen, Germany. Seen 28-Aug-1972.
• No regn. Purchased by B & M Aviation Ltd., . Lachute, QC. 01-Apr-1973. Imported into Canada.
C-GHCS Trans-Provincial Airlines Ltd., Prince Rupert, BC. Regd Jun-1974 until circa Jun-1982.
Note: Purchased by TPA in an “as is” condition.
• C-GHCS Air BC Limited, Richmond, BC. On CCAR at May-1981.
• C-GHCS Jim Pattinson Industries Ltd., Prince Rupert, BC. Canx 09-Oct-1986.
Accident: Prince Rupert, BC. 08-Apr-1986. The float-equipped aircraft departed on a 30-minute visual flight rules (VFR) flight from Seal Cove, BC to Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC. After flying in deteriorating weather (low cloud ceiling and snow) for about fifteen minutes the pilot decided to return to Seal Cove. Six miles out the pilot flew into a blind cove and crashed while attempting to turn round. During the crash sequence the left float, the rear portion of the right float and the right wing were torn off. There were no fatalities.
The weather on departure was four miles visibility in fog; however, the pilot commenced the flight, expecting the weather to improve once he reached open water. Instead, the weather continued to deteriorate. Ice formed on the airframe, and, as a result, the airspeed dropped from 115 mph to 85 mph, and a nose-high attitude was required to maintain level flight. Because of the reduced visibility due to the aircraft's attitude and the weather, the pilot inadvertently flew into the blind cove. When he attempted to turn around at low altitude, the ice-laden aircraft could not maintain flight and crashed. Although the water he had just overflown would have allowed a safe landing, the pilot thought he could safely reach home base. The ELT activated on impact but was ineffective due to the antenna breaking off in the crash.
• C-GHCS Simpson Air (1981) Ltd., Fort Simpson, NT. Regd 16-Feb-1987. Deleted 22-Feb-1993 on export to the USA.
• N67680 Imported into USA. Regd 1993.
• N67680 Northwest Seaplanes Inc., Renton, WA. Jan-1994. On USCAR at Dec-1995.
Note: Northwest Seaplanes Inc.,at Renton WA (Clyde Carlson) commenced rebuild between 1994 and 1997 before selling the project. New owner had Westar Aviation of Grand Junction finish upholstering, avionics fit and repaint. (Ref: -Wipaire For Sale Advert Nov-2006).
Airworthiness date: 11-Nov-1996. Category - Standard restricted – Other.
Mods include: Wipaire 6100 amphib floats, Kenmore finlets, rectangular window, and Hartzell three-blade prop.
Note: Still for sale with Wipaire. Feb-2008 at $650,000US and shows only 360 hours TT, however was showing 5,000 hours when for sale from the military in 1974.
Accident: Chelan, WA, 17-May-2008. The amphibious-float-equipped airplane departed from a paved runway at Lake Chelan Airport for the 40-nautical-mile flight to its destination at Stekekin, where a water landing on a lake was to be made. The pilot did not raise the landing gear after takeoff. During the flight, the air was bumpy and turbulent, and this resulted in the gear advisory system activating numerous times. The purpose of the system is to alert the pilot of the landing gear position--up for a water landing or down for a runway landing--when the airspeed decreased below a set threshold value. The pilot disabled the system by pulling its circuit breaker because the alerts were becoming a nuisance; he intended to reset the breaker during descent, but did not do so. Upon reaching the destination, the pilot set up a 150- to 200-feet-per-minute rate of descent for a glassy water landing on the lake. With the landing gear in the down position, the airplane contacted the water and abruptly nosed over. The airplane came to rest floating inverted, suspended by the floats. The pilot reported that the day of the accident was his nineteenth consecutive duty day, including office duty and flight duty. He stated that he feels the lack of days off during the previous 19 days was a contributing factor to this accident. When asked what would have prevented the accident, the pilot suggessted consistency in using the checklist. On two flights earlier in the day he had used a written checklist; on the accident flight he did not. NTSB report LAX08FA144.
Total hours: 12,070 hours at May 2008.
Noted for sale on Ebay. Nov 2008.
