[SES1066]

Very sad news indeed. One thing that strikes me here, this appears to be a plane on the cutting edge of technology, a folding wing amphibian.

It is a truism that the more things that can be done, the more modes of failure lurk.

[Magnum44]

Cutting edge or not, two things stand out to me here. One, many light sport aircraft have speed and G limits that the pilot has to be mindful of. And pilots of light sport aircraft often are on the lesser end of experience, since one can get a ‘sport’ license with less time and training than a full ‘private’ license. Second, any flight over water can become disorienting very quickly depending on lighting, altitude, visibility, and again, pilot experience. I have no idea if any of these were factors in the accident.

[Rome2000]

I wouldn’t try to land that thing on anybody of water that had even small wave action going.

I have been on De Havilland seaplanes taking off and landing in the Keys and you need a strong airframe to handle the stress.

That thing looks very unforgiving.