Icon A5 Accident in Michigan USA

[suninmyeyes]

I see there has been another Icon A5 accident this week in Michigan, both occupants injured. If you start the video about half way through which is at the start of the take off roll one wonders if he was doomed from the point of lift off or if he could have got away with it....

You Tube

[Pilot DAR]

one wonders if he was doomed from the point of lift off or if he could have got away with it....

Because of the obstacles (tree, in this case) he was doomed from the time he opened the throttle. It's hard to tell the wind direction, so I hope he had planned to work that in his favour by turning into it, rather than out. A circular takeoff is an okay maneuver, but you still have to have the space. Depth perception makes it a little difficult to know if he had room to make it out, but it does not look like it from the video. The airplane did an admirable job hanging on to the stall, but ultimately, just not enough....

Operating off water nearly always makes you your own aerodrome designer, and wind effects evaluator, so you must work within your skills. The fact that you can land in, does not mean that you can fly out. Knowing your personal water length requirements is a skill which takes time to develop, so lots of conservatism is needed for the first few hundred hours of water flying.

[ChrisVJ]

From where he turned into wind looks like he left a lot of lake behind him. Maybe some rotors coming over those trees too.

[Vilters]

When taking off at a very slow speed (that is still OK) you need to level off and accelerate to best climb speed.

In this case it seems he started climbing before accelerating to best climb speed.

That and the "space" he left behind him.

[draglift]

He was not doomed from the point when he opened the throttle for takeoff because at any time up until lift off he could have closed the throttle and aborted the takeoff and stopped. Having got airborne it looks like he was not going to make it over the trees so he had to keep the speed back to do the tightest turn he could but was unable to turn inside the tree line. It looked like he had a lot of flap for takeoff. I wonder if that might have been full flap and if the flaps were at the same position when it caught the trees or if he had been retracting the flaps. I think whatever he tried he was not going to make it. Such a pity he started his takeoff roll from the point he did and did not backtrack to give himself a greater stretch of water. Easy with the benefit of hindsight.

[Pilot DAR]

any time up until lift off he could have closed the throttle and aborted the takeoff and stopped.

Very true. Perhaps I'll say that a successful takeoff was doomed...

I Such a pity he started his takeoff roll from the point he did and did not backtrack to give himself a greater stretch of water.

Yeah, not knowing the layout of the lake, he could have been as far back as practical. It would be reasonable to assume that the video was shot by a person standing on a dock. Water pilots are correctly sensitive to blasting/splashing/annoying people on shore, and going closer to an unknown shore increases the risk of hitting bottom. There are many variables, some of which we cannot know. It nearly looks as though had he continued straight out over the coloured sail, he might have made it. But, still, a poor judgement takeoff. For circular takeoffs I have done, I have prethought several abort points. I don't know enough about the Icon to know how it handles circular takeoffs. Sponsons, as opposed to wing tip floats probably allow a little more risk of dipping a wingtip. I can touch a wingtip float near takeoff speed without a problem, but touching a wingtip would be a whole different matter! There's a lot of centrifugal effect to throw the top of the plane toward the outside of the circle, so there has to be lots of aileron effectiveness to oppose that (and a wing tip float is nice too, just in case!)