Witness Heard Engine 'Sputter,' Saw Plane Spiral Down

The pilot of a Seawind 300C test aircraft, one of those used in Seawinds certification program, who died Thursday in an accident near Winnipeg's St. Andrews Airport has been identified.

Glenn Ralph Holmes, 67, had been involved in the flight test program for the four-place amphibian for about a year.

"He passed away doing what he loved to do," Liz Holmes told the Winnipeg Free Press. "He has been flying for over 40 years -- he was a bush pilot before this. He was at the epitome of his career doing what he loved."

As ANN reported Thursday, the lone witness to the accident said she heard an aircraft flying overhead with its engine "sputtering," before the noise stopped.

"Then it just quit. The motor quit. The engine quit, and then it kind of glided a little bit," Darlene Steffan told the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal. "Then it just turned straight down, the nose, and then started spiralling. I lost sight of it behind the trees (and) about two seconds later I heard a sickening thuck."

Emergency crews were at the scene of the accident within 20 minutes, according to Steffan. The aircraft came down in a heavily wooded area near the town of Stead.

The aircraft did not catch fire, according to a RCMP officer, and the wreckage was confined to about a 30-foot radius. Reported weather conditions were clear skies, with a 10-knot wind and temperature of 63 degrees F.

Seawind History

The Seawind seats four adults under its clamshell canopy, or two with a significant amount of luggage. Useful load of about 1100 pounds is divided among fuel load and passengers, luggage, and cargo. With a 310-horsepower Continental IO-550-N, the aircraft cruises at 166 knots, according to the company.

Seawind builder Len Carlson told the Free Press he has flown his aircraft for 10 years. "It's a fairly rare plane in the world," Carlson said Thursday. "It's a good plane and we've had phenomenal use with it -- we've flown it to the Arctic and to Wisconsin. You can go anyplace with it."

In 2003 -- after roughly 150 kits had been sold over 10 years, with anywhere from 50 to 75 planes flying, depending on your source -- the company announced plans to certify the Seawind in Canada as the 300C, with FAA certification to follow. The company had hoped to have certified planes in customers' hands by late 2004, but that date slipped due to funding issues and required changes to the design... including, in one unusual case, needing to weaken the aircraft's seats to better absorb vertical impacts.

Last month at AirVenture 2007, company president Richard Silva (above) told ANN the 300C needed only to complete spin testing to receive its oft-delayed VFR Type Certificate from Transport Canada and the FAA. Silva added that was proving somewhat difficult, as the company's test pilot had so far been unable to get more than an entry into a spiral.

It is not known whether those tests were underway at the time of Thursday's accident.

Accident History

A search of the National Transportation Safety Board aviation accident database lists 13 accidents involving customer-built Seawinds since 1993. Six of those accidents were fatal, claiming 10 people. A significant number of those accidents were attributed to engine failure, either due to mechanical failure or pilot error (in three accidents, the cause of engine failure was undetermined.)

Two accidents were attributed to VFR pilots continuing flight into instrument conditions.

FMI: www.seawind.biz