Local Media Speculation Differs From Official Cause
The National Transportation Safety
Board released its probable cause report on a float plane that went
down in Wixom Lake near Edenville, MI, in November of last year...
but local media question the Board's findings.
Pilot Martin L. Witkop, 62, drowned when his Maule MX-7-180B
float plane (similar to type shown at bottom) went down in the lake
and overturned. There were no direct witness of the actual
accident; however, there were one that reported seeing a
propeller-driven aircraft with floats approaching the lake as if to
land. He noted it appeared to be in "level flight" and the "engine
was running very smoothly."
About half an hour, officials received a report of an overturned
boat near the dam, but it turned out to be the Maule, according to
the NTSB report. No flight plan had been filed; Witkop reportedly
planned to practice water landings at the lake. He reportedly had
about 24 hours in a float plane.
This same witness reported seeing three military airplanes about
five minutes prior to the float plane. He reported they were flying
over at "tree top level" with one of them maneuvering, apparently
to join formation with the other two.
"The flight of three aircraft proceeded northbound. (The
witness) stated that the propeller-driven airplane was
"considerably higher" than the military airplanes," said the
report.
The official cause has been listed as, "The pilot's loss of
control during landing on a lake resulting in the amphibian
aircraft flipping over inverted."
But, the Saginaw News sees it differently. The newspaper
speculated in its Tuesday edition turbulence from the military
aircraft may have played a part in the November 15, 2006
accident.
The paper cites notes from the NTSB report of lack of damage to
the aircraft's wings and that both pontoons were intact. There was
no evidence the plane struck a fixed object, nor was there anything
that could have been struck in the water to cause the
inversion.
Michigan National Guard officials were unable to provide the
News with information as to what type of military aircraft might
have been in that area on that day or what they could have been
doing there, the paper reported.
The newspaper cites the Federal Aviation Administration
Aeronautical Information Manual advisory about wake turbulence that
warns against flying below a large aircraft's flight path.
There has been no report of a follow-up with the NTSB on the
part of the newspaper.
FMI: Read The NTSB Report