Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Glider; Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Sea
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 66; Flight Crew Total 2770; Flight Crew Type 129
Distraction; Situational Awareness; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors
Was in air to conduct engine checks after re-pitching propeller and adjusting carburetors on a Rotax 912 ULS engine; at last minute decided to do water skip and go landing on a river north of my home field.  Usually retracted gear on takeoff and rechecked configuration of gear to be sure it was up on downwind and final when landing in the water. This time my attention was distracted due to watching for boat wakes and logs in river and I failed to ensure I had gear in proper position. When I touched down the plane submarined and I was swimming. If I had used my checklist to ensure the gear was in correct position I would not have to repair the plane. If I had gear lights I might have detected the incorrect position before touchdown.
A Progressive Aerodyne Searey pilot forgot to raise the landing gear before doing a river skip and go so that when he touched down the aircraft pitched over and filled with water.