I posted on July 8th:
If the pilot fails to stop and think about where they are landing and where the gear is, it's a big hazard.
A good friend allowed that mistake just over a week ago, and I attended his funeral on Wednesday. He was a very experienced water and amphibian pilot. I don't know exactly what happened to lead to the oversight, I just know the outcome. To make the story even more hear wrenching, his wife, and five kids did escape, and survive. By whatever personal strength she mustered, she paddled the inverted plane to shore, and tied it there, so it would not sink in the middle of the lake. Then spent 22 hours on shore, wet, with the kids, awaiting rescue. It seems that word of the failure to return was not circulated as quickly as intended.
His wife and I now have matching scars on our foreheads from water landings, in which we were passengers, gone wrong. She refers to hers as an exclamation mark, with a learned smile. Strong woman!