Crashed float plane’s wheels were in wrong position, investigator finds

LAKE GOODWIN — A Federal Aviation Administration inspector examining the wreckage of a fatal January float plane crash on Lake Goodwin found the aircraft’s four wheels were in an extended position — suggesting

it was rigged to touch down on land, not water.

A witness to the Jan. 22 crash also reported that the amphibious plane’s wheels were extended from its pontoons when it hit the water, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.

A final report likely won’t be completed for several months.

Jacob C. Jeter, 6, died in the accident. He was a passenger in the Cessna T206H flown by his father, Russell Jeter, 55. Jacob was a first-grader at Fidalgo Elementary School in Anacortes.

Russell Jeter was able to escape from the plane after it flipped upside down, but the boy was trapped inside for about 40 minutes. A diver from the Snohomish County Technical Water Rescue Team recovered the boy. He was rushed to an Everett hospital, where he died.

The flight started from the Arlington Municipal Airport.

In an interview with a transportation safety board investigator, the pilot said he was landing the plane on Lake Goodwin when it started to act “as if the (its) nose was too low.”

The airplane began to dip and the pilot reached to retract the flaps, according to the report.

When the airplane dipped a third time, it flipped upside down and became submerged, the report said.

The plane reportedly was one of three flying together and attempting to land on the lake. The first two landed smoothly. The plane that flipped was setting up to land between their wakes.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.